Synopsis

Ambassador Micha Lawrence (mastermind) can’t retire just yet. The High Council won’t let her. They want her to go to distant Ka’len to get a treaty and find out what the invading Omeri are doing. They assign the Magellan to be her transport and overwatch. The night before she is to leave, President Aliel Smbarak (confidant) calls to tell her the Olmeri are accelerating their take-overs. The next morning, N’amani (fixer) calls to tell her he managed to get everything she wanted. The Ambassador recalls the day President Smbarak assigned N’amani. She remembers her first mission with him – they had to fight their way out of a trap. The Ambassador arrives on the space station, meets Commander Sara Brandon (HR), and to her surprise, finds out she has a new captain. She meets Captain Alexander Logan (captain) and uses the ancient arts to find out who he is. She introduces him to the mission and her team: N’amani, Doctor Marcus Gray (genius), Kell (pilot), and Beth Michaels (protegee). As they board the ship, they meet Maja, the ship’s AI (genius). Later, Captain Logan introduces Lt. Meridith Katy (pilot).

After they have been introduced, each of the characters is featured through their skills and their roles. The Ambassador talks with President Smbarak and practices martial arts with her sword. N’amani and Commander Brandon sort out the supplies. Captain Logan takes his seat on the bridge. Lt. Katy begins learning what the Magellan can actually do. The Doctor makes a discovery in his lab. Kell goes out on a dangerous flight. Beth gets Maja to help catalog the archives. The Ambassador calls her old friends, Sentar, Maru, B’ani, and Galen to come help with the mission. They have dinner and remember their early training days with Master Tai. Later, the Ambassador decides to teach Beth the ancient arts. That begins a story arc that leads Beth to find her destiny at the mystical Library at Nareem.

The Ambassador is low-concept, realistic, and grounded. All of the places referenced in the stories exist in the real world, including the stars in the Local Neighborhood. The basis for most of the lore is traditional Chinese martial arts. The Ambassador and her four old friends are the Five Elements of Xingyiquan: Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, Earth. Real-world astronomy, medicine, agriculture, what we eat, and who gets a seat at the table are all part of the story. The Ambassador and her team don’t save the universe. They try to do good. Sometimes they succeed. Sometimes they fail. They are excellent at what they do. They are brilliant and humble, honest and kind. They are mostly regular, normal, outwardly average, incredibly interesting, quietly extraordinary people.

Unlike many adventure series, the characters age, grow old, and pass on. As one generation fades, the next generation rises. The stories begin in the Ambassador’s present, go back 30 years to when she first began training, then return to the present before continuing into her future.

The stories aren’t about blowing things up or who has the biggest guns. They’re about who the good guys are. They’re about the day-to-day lives of heroes who could be us; how they figure it out, how they meet friends and foes, how they learn to rely on each other, and how they grow old. They’re a comfortable adventure in a world where excellence is expected, integrity and honor matter, trust is earned, wits matter more than firepower, friends are the best, everybody gets a seat at the table, and the good guys win most of the time. They cross generations and cultures, East and West. They take us back to a time that never existed and show us a future we can only imagine.

They offer a rare glimpse into the inner world and discipline of traditional Chinese martial arts training.