The Devil Ship (Keyholders Saga)

It was the product of a Secret Committee in the largest company on earth, so enormous that it commanded its own standing army, bigger than that of its native homeland, and hundreds of ships, more ships than the Royal Navy itself. But for this mission, the Company wanted one more—purpose built for a very special mission. It would be a dangerous ship, a Devil Ship, and on its maiden voyage one man comes aboard with Letters of Marque in hand and an imprimatur bestowing him with the full authority of the company itself. This man and his mission remained a complete mystery. Everything about the launch of the ship was wreathed in shadow, even its destination.

For Captain William Hall, the ship itself was as much a mystery as it was a marvel of new engineering, a strange hybrid of tried shipbuilding methods with novel new techniques and materials that were opening the door to a whole new modern era on the seas. But where was he taking it? What was his mission? Why was it built as it was, and who was this man who had come aboard as the company’s special representative?
The Devil Ship

By
John Schettler

Prologue
Part I – A Curious Secret
Part II – Trouble at Sea
Part III – The Coming Storm
Part IV – Confrontation
Part V – The Mandate of Heaven
Part VI – Clash of Empires
Part VII – Death of a Thousand Cuts
Part VIII– The Lion and Dragon
Part IX – Black Wind
Part X – The Final March
Part XI – The Garden of Perfect Brightness
Part XII – Calamity
Afterword