The USS Voyager in quantum slipstream
Quantum slipstream drive was an advanced form of faster-than-light propulsion able to achieve speeds far greater than standard warp drive. The crew of the USS Voyager acquired the technology in 2374, during their sojourn in the Delta Quadrant. Their experiments with the drive allowed them to greatly shorten their journey, but use of the technology was put on hold when it nearly resulted in the ship's destruction. (VOY: "Hope and Fear", "Timeless")
Functionality[]
The quantum slipstream drive operated by routing energy through a starship's main deflector, which then projected a quantum field, and allowed the vessel to traverse a quantum barrier into subspace. Maintaining the slipstream was difficult, as the phase variance of the quantum field needed constant adjustment, or else the slipstream would collapse, violently ejecting the ship back into normal space. Unlike traditional warp drive and similar FTL technologies, slipstream technology did not rely on matter/antimatter reactions; instead, benamite crystals were used to focus and control the energies involved. (VOY: "Hope and Fear", "Timeless")
Advanced computer systems, such as those integrating bio-neural circuitry, were necessary for implementing the technology. Generating slipstream corridors required more processing power than forming warp fields; the computational power required was directly related to vessel's subspace geometry. Therefore, slipstream propelled ships were generally narrow and compact with aerodynamic lines. Slipstream tech was far more energy-efficient than warp drive, which more than offset the increase in computer power. (TNG novel: Greater Than the Sum)
Slipstream in the Alpha Quadrant[]
Starfleet Research and Development and the Starfleet Corps of Engineers began working on quantum slipstream drive in 2378, almost immediately after the USS Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant. The USS Spirit served as an early testbed for the drive, though the technology's existence was kept classified for several years. Limited supplies of the necessary benamite crystals hampered the widespread application of the drive as well. Due to the nature of the quantum slipstream's interactions with subspace, there were many starship types whose hull design and warp field geometry were incompatible with the drive tech, including the Galaxy class, Luna class and Sovereign class and those with similar profiles. In contrast, Intrepid-class and Prometheus-class vessels were able to successfully implement slipstream drives.
First Splinter timeline[]
By 2380, ships of the Vesta class were equipped with the technology, including the USS Aventine. The success of the drive on these vessels and others, led to the implementation of Project Full Circle, a long-term exploration and diplomatic initiative in the Delta Quadrant, led by Voyager. (VOY novel: Full Circle)
In 2382, a Breen operative infiltrated Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards obtain Starfleet's data on the quantum slipstream technology on behalf of the Typhon Pact. The Breen Confederacy's experiments with the drive came to an abrupt end a year later when their research outpost and prototype slipstream vessel were destroyed. The Typhon Pact abandoned further experimentation with the technology, seeing it as more trouble than it was worth. (Star Trek: Typhon Pact novel: Zero Sum Game)
Hidden Frontier timeline[]
In 2384, armed with a new understanding of hyper-dimensional physics, Starfleet R&D was able to use material from the Grey tetrahedrons to power a prototype quantum slipstream drive aboard the USS Odyssey, enabling the vessel to travel to the Andromeda Galaxy. After Odyssey's return in 2386, further refinements in the technology allowed vessels like the Renaissance II-class USS Helena to continue the exploration of Andromeda and other neighboring galaxies. (Star Trek: Odyssey)
Hobus timeline[]
By the early 25th century, the technology had been refined significantly, and was widely implemented by Starfleet, the Klingon Defense Force, and the Romulans, to varying degrees. While the vessel's frontal geometry still played a significant factor, even ships that were formerly incompatible with the technology were able to travel some distance via slipstream, though the corridor was not sustainable for long periods. (Star Trek Online)
Speed[]
When Voyager initially discovered the technology in 2374, it was projected that they could travel the remaining 60,000 light years of their journey in three months: an equivalent speed of warp 9.99992, or 243412.44 times the speed of light. Their starting distance of 70,000 light years would have taken about 105 days at that speed.
Subsequent testing of slipstream drive aboard Voyager performed at 2.63×106 (2,630,000) times the speed of light, or the rough equivalent of warp 9.99999275 (on the W10 scale). Had Voyager been able to maintain slipstream indefinitely at that speed they could have covered the original length of their 70,000 light-year journey home in about 10 days. As it was, Voyager managed to travel 300 light-years in the hour before they were forced to shutdown the drive. (VOY: "Hope and Fear")
At that speed, it would just under a year (~355 days) to cross the intergalactic void between the Milky Way and Andromeda, almost three hundred times faster than the projected voyage of the Kelvan-modified USS Enterprise in 2368. (TOS: "By Any Other Name")
During the Archein invasion of the Beta Quadrant in 2384, the USS Odyssey (NCC-81302) and the IKS R'kog were outfitted with slipstream drives in order to find and destroy the Archeins' artificial wormhole in Andromeda. Using material from the ancient tetrahedrons found in the Briar Patch to augment the drives, Odyssey and R'kog were able to make the journey to Andromeda in just two weeks. Unfortunately, Odyssey was forced to sacrifice their slipstream core in order to disable the wormhole generator complex, leaving them stranded. (Star Trek: Odyssey)
The more stable, though slightly less powerful version of the slipstream drive incorporated into Vesta-class starships during the 2380s and 2390s produced speeds equal to Warp 9.999993, or 310.08 light-years per hour. (STA: Utopia Planitia Starfleet Sourcebook)
External links[]
- Quantum slipstream drive article at Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek wiki.
- Quantum slipstream drive article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.
- Quantum slipstream drive article at Star Trek Expanded Universe, the fanon and fanworks Star Trek wiki.
- Quantum slipstream drive article at the official Star Trek Online wiki