Ambassador: Science Fiction Thriller Series

24 October 2114: the day that shocked the world.  Young diplomat Cory Wilson narrowly escapes death in the assassination of President Sirkonen. No one claims responsibility but there is no doubt that the attack is extraterrestrial.  Cory was meant to start work as a representative to Gamra, the alien organisation that governs the FTL transport network, but now his new job may well be scrapped in anger.  Worse, as Earth uses military force to stop any extraterrestrials coming or leaving, as 200,000 extraterrestrial humans are trapped on Earth, as the largest army in the galaxy prepares to free them by force, only Cory has the experience, language skills and contacts to solve the crime.  But he's broke, out of a job and a long way from Earth. This series will appeal to readers of the Miles Vorkorsigan series or space opera by Elizabeth Moon.

Fifty thousand years ago, a meteorite hit the planet Asto, giving its Aghyrian inhabitants mere days of notice. Three ships escaped the Armageddon. Two went to the neighbouring planet. The third, a massive generation ship, refused to take on refugees, and then vanished without a trace. It’s coming back. Its initial burst of communication caused the outage of the Exchange, the FTL network for transport and communication, but since then the ship has been silent. It jumps about at random, using wormholes it generates with a drive the likes of which no one has seen before. Meanwhile at the gamra assembly, people jostle to be in the best positions when it inevitably turns up in inhabited space. What the ship wants or whether there is anyone on board no one knows, but diplomat Cory Wilson knows one thing: when it turns up, he must avoid a conflict at all cost. If only gamra presented a united viewpoint. If only Asto’s army wasn’t keen to get involved. If only the Aghyrians at gamra didn’t do what they do best: manipulate and play games with everyone. While the ship approaches, the delegates bicker, and the time for negotiating is fast running out.

The world as we know it is on a certain path to war...  Delegate Cory Wilson has returned to gamra headquarters from deep space with a rather unwelcome guest: Captain Kando Luczon of the mammoth Aghyrian ship that has returned after mysteriously vanishing 50,000 years ago. On board the ship only 400 years have passed, in which they have visited another galaxy. But the captain isn't willing to share what they found there or why they decided to come back. In fact, the captain does his utmost best to live up to his infamous historical reputation as an utter jerk, having lived through four hundred years to cultivate his jerkery.  Cory had hoped that by isolating the captain from his ship, mostly still in stasis mode, he could start a conversation, but Kando Luczon isn't interested in a conversation. He views the modern version of his home world Asto as inferior, its inhabitants the Coldi as nothing but a placeholder race and all other races as savages.  Meanwhile the ship is showing signs of waking up, ancient satellites in orbit in the space junk clouds around Asto and Ceren sputter into life, and Asto's Chief Coordinator and Cory's friend Ezhya Palayi makes it clear that if pushed, Asto's formidable military fleet will take defensive action.

As Cory takes a well-earned rest and finally submits to proper weapons training, he and a couple of people from his household go on a hunting trip in the marshland between Barresh and the turquoise sea. A bad storm has come through recently and on a deserted beach, Cory finds something Earthly that doesn’t belong there: a message in a bottle, a piece of paper with HELP scratched on it with a sharp object. In Isla. Cory has a list of all humans in Barresh: it’s very short and no one is missing. A few days later, he receives a curious message through official channels, from a woman on Earth whose rich businessman husband went on a trip of a lifetime “in a place where you can surf with plesiosaurs in turquoise waves”. Cory knows the guy advertising the trip. He’s a shady character. He also knows where the “plesiosaurs” are. They’re not particularly friendly. Not to mention that the area is on the land of a viciously territorial Pengali tribe. As it turns out, those are the least of his worries.

The 5-book set of the Ambassador series. 1: Seeing Red - Cory Wilson is about to start his new job as representative to gamra, the alien network that controls the network for wormhole travel, when a political murder may well end his position before it started. 1A: The Sahara Conspiracy - Cory is asked to deal with the alien mafia on Earth, and stumbles across a dangerous plot. 2: Raising Hell - the wormhole network goes down, and Cory's friend and leader of the largest populated world Asto is caught off-world. Dangerous politics are afoot on Asto, and Cory decides to help his friend. 3: Changing Fate - The outage of the wormhole network was caused by an artifial source: a giant ship that was last seen in the inhabited worlds over 50,000 years ago. Is it live? If so, who is on board? Cory and his team investigate. 4: Coming Home - By isolating the captain from his ancient ship, Cory hopes to avert hostile action. The captain has other ideas.