Think I've finally figured it out. The skeleton should be worked out tonight. Hopefully
I've given it the working title of "Ashes of the Autumn Oak"
It's a little long, but we'll worry about that later.
One of the main characters will be "Basil Thime," which is as close to a play on Herb (get it, haha) as I can get. Basil's a bit - bookish, as far from a hero as you can possibly get. His father was either an airship pirate or some other kind of man-of-action. He's a scientist/teacher in the city of Rolle, (a play off Raleigh, where they currently reside) I'm kind of leaning towards an antebellum/postwar(reconstruction) time period with some steampunk influences. It should open up right in the middle of martial law being declared on the city.
Some radical/anti-government people (redshirts?) basically end up causing a ruckus. There's a military skirmish in the middle of the streets and the radicals run away with their tails between their legs. A short time later, they return with more bad guys and basically burn the city to the ground. There's a huge riot in the streets, one of the houses burned may end up being his family's home. He comes out to find his father in the streets bleeding from some nasty wounds, still clutching his pistol.
At that point, his father makes him promise to find the men that did this to him. So, now it turns into an almost revenge story. The military may or may not arrive and find him holding his father's gun and think he killed the great war hero. He could end up in military prison for a while until they realize he's Basil. At that point, maybe they'll end up conscripting him into service.
I think Basil will probably have the ability to turn all the little models he makes into functioning "robots" that perform his orders. Which would be the reason the military wants to keep him around.
Their whole goal of the mission may be to put down the insurrection. But somehow, along the way, they'll receive new orders from the President, who has learned of a crashed airship somewhere in the mountains northwest of Rolle. Since they're the closest military unit, they're mustered to go investigate the crash landing.
The United States as a whole does not have the airship technology, it's a super secret classified thing that the military was working on. A handful of people know about it, one of them is dead. The other helped design the thing and now works for the bad guys. The other is Basil.
Along the way, there'll be some airship battles and naval battles as they sail the rivers around the area. During one, the good guys will board another ship and discover Rosemary, a kidnapped librarian, locked in the brig.
Rosemary happens to be one of the few people who can read an ancient scroll that discussed the possibility or air travel and superior weaponry. The bad guys want her so they can pick her brain and take that knowledge to overthrow the government once and for all. Basil wants her because he wants her
After they rescue her and arrive in the mountains, there's an epic showdown between bad and good in the ruins of the crashed ship.
The good guys win and everyone lives happily ever after
Feedback?