The Homeward Bound warship was fast. Its thrusters combined magnetic fields with ions to give the hull tremendous forward thrust.
In space, where external forces had little effect, Newton's first law was on full display.
It could not rival the speed of light, of course, nor did it reach anything as absurd as hundreds of thousands of kilometers per second.
But it traveled through the vacuum at nearly 222 kilometers per second, covering 800,000 kilometers an hour.
That left Tianhe 1, with its speed of 300,000 kilometers an hour, far behind!
The Homeward Bound came equipped with a Gravity System. In other words, it generated its own gravity, counteracting the effects of acceleration and deceleration on the ship's structure.
After another ten hours of travel toward Water Blue Star, it encountered another electromagnetic transmission ahead, complete with a translation lexicon.
[This is the River Domain Alliance Space Force fleet:
All vessels along our route, please keep clear of our trajectory. Any craft that comes within 100,000 kilometers of a warship's trajectory and continues to approach will be subjected to overwhelming strikes.]
The Replica clapped its hands. Wonderful, wonderful. This was far too entertaining.
The chances of the two sides encountering each other in the vastness of space were truly low. Normally, they would never meet.
But one side was holding a "megaphone" and calling for help.
The other was holding a "megaphone" and telling everyone to keep clear.
Both sides were making such a commotion in the darkness that an encounter ten hours later seemed all but inevitable.
The Replica had originally wanted to stay and watch the show, but there were still guests aboard the warship to deliver.
Besides, slowing down or turning around would take far too long, so the Homeward Bound continued quietly toward Water Blue Star.