The Mystery of the Balavoine - The (mis-)Adventures of Captain Du Bon Le Phare, #1

The Mystery of the Balavoine is the first story of The (mis-)Adventures of Captain Du Bon Le Phare, a series of stories with a steampunkish theme, chronicling the high (and low) jinxes of my gay anti-hero, his crew and the rival Lu-Belle captains. The Mystery of the Balavoine introduces Captain Du Bon Le Phare - usually referred to as simply Le Phare, his business of harvesting Lu - an airborne substance that can only be harvested during stormy weather, his dirigible - The Tiankong, and his partner - Benjamin, who mans the lighthouse.
Ely, the helmsman, makes a mistake while navigating the Tiankong through a bad storm, blaming the error on the mythical beast - the Balavoine. The error, and his story, earns him the sack. Joining forces with Sergei, also summarily dismissed by Le Phare, the partnership sets up in competition with Le Phare and his arch rival Matthias, captain of the Niao. Little do they know that Sidney, a lackey working for Le Phare, is scheming to bring about a change in his own fortunes ...
with disastrous consequences.