On October 25, Year 832 of the Common Era, the Free Shepherd, the high-speed passenger ship carrying Yu Lian and his latest batch of companions, passed through the Southern Heavenly Gate and officially arrived in the Gibraltar System.
Directly assigned to the First Fleet, this high-speed transport could reach a higher top speed than even destroyers and assault ships. Its main job was to serve as a messenger when hyperspace communications were down... And, in certain unpleasant situations—say, when the flagship was badly damaged and about to be destroyed—it could also carry senior officers to safety.
The Shepherd had taken less than a week to travel from New Jade Gate to the Southern Heavenly Gate. A large freighter or ordinary passenger ship would have taken half a month.
Even so, Yu Lian thought the trip had been a little slow. He figured that if ships could be equipped with the Lightwing system, they could cut down on sublight cruising time within a system—and that was where most of the time spent on interstellar travel went. That way, a trip from the Southern Heavenly Gate to New Jade Gate might take just three or four days.
The device invented by Eisen French was unquestionably a groundbreaking creation. Unfortunately, limitations in its structure and materials meant it couldn't yet be installed on large ships. Hopefully, later models would bring even more impressive improvements.
Even so, it would be a huge leap forward for transportation across the universe.
Once the racing competition was over, I'm definitely getting one installed on my Kettle Street... Yu Lian suddenly realized that the biggest purchase he'd ever made in this life had been sitting forgotten on New Jade Gate. Then, later on, Feifei had arranged for someone to take it straight back to Earth and deliver it