Quantum Slipstream Drive

The Quantum Slipstream Drive represents the fastest development in Federation Faster than Light technology, and of the current Alpha Quadrant dominant powers. First discovered by the Federation Starship Voyager in 2374 during their run in with the USS Dauntless, an alien vessel that used a form of force field technology to replicate the appearance of a Federation vessel. Experiments to integrate the drive system into the Intrepid-Class's Warp Drive resulted in failure, although they were able to successfully shave a few years off their expected journey.

After Voyager's return from the Delta Quadrant several of the technologies brought back were immediately investigated. While the Beam-On-Ablative Armour is still unable to be replicated, and the transphasic torpedoes were only recently able to be stabilized, the QSD was a high priority from the start. Starfleet engineers and scientists pored over the information on the Dauntless and its slipstream drive. The Corps of Engineers took the schematics of the starship and adapted the design into an actual starship class in order to continue testing quantum slipstream travel. Once the drive was successfully developed the Vesta class Starship was the first class of ship specifically designed for the Quantum Slipstream Drive.

The key elements of the drive technology were the field projector and the waveform attenuators. The drive used no antimatter and was more energy-efficient than warp drives. The system operated by routing energy through the field projector to create a quantum field and then propelled a starship into a corridor through the quantum barrier. To maintain the slipstream, the phase variance of the field needed constant adjustment and these changes were then fed to the projector and the waveform attenuators. The drive allowed starships to achieve speeds exceeding 300 light years per hour. Due to the extreme processing needs of the system, a dedicated computer core was required in order to safely operate the drive for extended periods of time.

Other systems installed as part of the slipstream drive included a quantum field focus controller at the front of the ship's main deflector and a chroniton integrator. The quantum field focus controller allowed the starship to keep shields and communication online and at 100% during slipstream travel. It could also be used as a beam intensifier. If the ship is heavily damaged and the field focuser is still online, power from the phasers and shields could be rerouted to the main deflection system and be used to ether create a shield bubble or a high intensity phaser beam which could be sustained for as long as power can be routed to the deflector array. The chroniton integrator could be used to take sensor readings several seconds into the future when the ship was using its slipstream drive.

During trial runs of the USS Vesta, it was discovered that, while Star Fleet hoped to be able to run the Quantum Slipstream drive like a standard warp core, with long runs at high warp of up to a month, before issues arose. It was discovered that the Quantum Slipstream Drive generated massive amounts of heat that proved difficult to vent while at Slipstream velocities. Furthermore, the drive seemed to hit a point where the Benamite Recrystallization Matrix was not able to keep up with the power demands, and fractures in the Benamite crystals would begin to occur. As a result, at Slipstream Cruising velocities, it was found a maximum of a week would be attainable, before the ship would require a break of at least four hours before the Slipstream drive was usable again. Theoretically the drive on a Vesta can function at cruising speed (Slipstream Factor 6) for nine days, three hours and fifteen minutes before the fracturing of the crystals forces the drive to come to a stop, however by this point there will not be enough Benamite Crystal left to reenter Slipstream speeds.

This lead to protocols of “hopping” where a Vesta could move along for three to four days at a time at high Slipstream velocities, return to normal space, and continue at high warp for a week or so, allowing the matrix time to rebuild itself. While this does not allow the Vesta the fastest travel at all times, it ensure the crew does not become stranded during long journeys. The computer core specifically responsible for the Quantum Slipstream Drive is programmed to automatically start this procedure, unless someone interferes with it.