Coaxial Warp Drive

Coaxial Warp Drive propulsion systems operate in many respects similarly to the Warp Drive that has been in use by most galactic powers for centuries. The Drive operates by first creating a standard warp field and then further manipulating that field to fold space. The Drive accomplishes this by drawing in subatomic particles and reconfiguring their internal geometries thereby creating the enhanced warp field that accomplishes the folding of space. The Coaxial Warp Drive utilizes antineutrinos as a catalyst for the space-folding process and then creates a neutrino envelope around the vessel, using tetrahedral Boronite/Dilithium quartz in the Coaxial Core to focus and amplify the space-folding process for travel. This process generates an incredible amount of power, more so than a conventional Warp Drive could generate in an entire year. The space-folding process is, however, exceptionally dangerous to any craft that may be too close to the vessel engaging Coaxial Warp as it can cause significant structural damage to any vessel not protected by the Coaxial Warp Field and even the presence of such a field is no guarantee of safety. Despite this, the Coaxial Drive does provide the user vessel with enhanced protections from collision as, since it is not traversing normal space, the ship is in very little danger of accidentally colliding with an object in space. Further, due to the Drive operating similar to a Folded Space Transporter under the Elway Theorem, the crew of a vessel can experience nausea and other illness while aboard a vessel travelling at Coaxial speeds.

While a long theorized technology, Coaxial Warp Drives are still highly experimental and are restricted in Starfleet due the dangers that can result from an instability in the system. Coaxial Warp Drives are prone to overload due to particle instability inside the Drive that can, and will, cause the system to experience malfunctions and even lose integrity. In the event of a catastrophic system failure the vessel utilizing the Coaxial Warp Drive would be destroyed and would also collapse subspace for a range of up to 1 billion kilometers from the point of detonation. To correct for this flaw, a polaric modulator is used to dilute the particle stream as it enters the coaxial core, similar in nature to a carburetor utilized in automobiles. A last ditch option to stabilize the instabilities in the space folding core is to employ a symmetric warp field to force stability. This also creates a disadvantage as a chromoelectric field or pulse can be used to disable the system.

Experimentation into the development of the Federation Coaxial Warp Drive can trace its history to the mid-2250s when Starfleet began work to develop an alternative to the Warp Drive for high speed travel within the galaxy. 127 of the Federation's leading scientists were gathered under the direction of Professor Bendes Kettaract, a Human theorist who had been working on developing a new form of energy generation. Due to the sensitive nature of their work a Starfleet Outpost in the Lantaru Sector was selected for experimentation into the development of the Drive. While nearing a breakthrough in their research, an accident caused the destruction of the Outpost, killing all 127 scientists, and a devastating rupture of subspace within a radius of several light years, causing warp travel to become a permanent impossibility within the Lantaru Sector. Because of this Starfleet immediately terminated further research into the Coaxial Drive.

While no additional work was conducted by Starfleet, the crew of the Starship Voyager encountered a small, Benthan vessel that was powered by a Coaxial Warp Drive in the Delta Quadrant in 2374. When encountered the vessel was in a highly unstable state and its single pilot was overwhelmed by the situation and unable to correct it. Through the actions of Voyager's pilot, Tom Paris, the vessel was saved from destruction; however, the Benthan pilot - Steth - was not whom he appeared and was in reality a shapeshifter who was trying to elude authorities. The crew of the Voyager attempted to modify a shuttle to accommodate the Coaxial Warp Drive; however, the prototype was stolen by the imposter after he replaced Captain Kathryn Janeway. Through the actions of the Voyager crew they were able to recover the prototype and the Benthan vessel to deliver them to the proper authorities. Due to the danger posed by the technology Voyager's crew made no further attempts to utilize the Coaxial Drive and placed the prototype engine in storage.

Following the return of Voyager to the Alpha Quadrant, Starfleet restricted access to many of the technologies brought back by the Voyager crew. Nonetheless, the Theoretical Propulsion Group was able to acquire the prototypes for not only the Coaxial Warp Drive but also the Quantum Slipstream Drive. While both technologies were groundbreaking, Starfleet chose to focus its efforts upon the Slipstream Drive rather than the Coaxial Drive with a working prototype vessel launched in the 2380s. The Coaxial Drive was returned to storage.

In the mid-2410s, due to advances on the part of the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Republic, the Federation Council approved efforts to develop a new propulsion system to maintain the Federation's superiority in propulsion technologies. It was agreed that Starfleet would resume research on the Coaxial Warp Drive at Gateway Station near Bajor. After significant work, the prototype Core was completed and installed aboard the Starship Enterprise during an extensive refit following the Battle of the Foundry.

Coaxial Warp Factor	Speed
Coaxial Factor 1	120 Light Years Per Hour
Coaxial Factor 2	240 Light Years Per Hour
Coaxial Factor 3	360 Light Years Per Hour
Coaxial Factor 4	480 Light Years Per Hour
Coaxial Factor 5	600 Light Years Per Hour

Warp Drive

Also known as a gravimetric field displacement manifold, Warp Drive operates by generating a warp fields that surrounds a vessel to create a subspace bubble. This bubble distorts space time by pushing a vessel into subspace itself, thus lowering its mass, and then propels the vessel forward at incredible speeds thereby having overcome the Laws of Relativity. This process itself originates in a vessel's Warp Core. The Warp Core is a Matter/Antimatter regulator and is, in many ways, the very heart of a Starship. Inside the Warp Core matter and antimatter are combined to generate a reaction mediated by a Dilithium Crystal assembly. This process creates a high energy plasma that is transmitted through the electroplasma system of a vessel to generate power for the craft. For propulsion needs this energy is further regulated through the plasma injector assembly into the Warp Field Coils in the nacelles. This process in turn allows for the Warp Field Coils to generate a Warp Field to propel the ship at speeds faster than light. This process also allows a Warp Core to be a vessel's main power generator, supplying energy to all the ship's systems.

The development of faster than light propulsion is considered a monumental step in the evolution of a species as it takes its place as an interstellar civilization. Each race has developed this technology at their own pace. Some species, such as the Vulcans, have been part of the interstellar community for over a millennia; others have become more recent partners in the galactic community. For Earth the development of Warp Propulsion was achieved by scientist Zefram Cochrane in the year 2063. Using his prototype vessel named the Phoenix (a repurposed Titan missile), Cochrane was able to penetrate the warp barrier and attract the attention of a nearby Vulcan starship. This is considered to be a moment in history that defined an entire generation and, potentially, led directly to the formation of the United Federation of Planets itself.

When the Federation was founded Warp Propulsion throughout the newborn Starfleet was gradually refitted to provide vessels the opportunity to reach Warp Factor 7. Within the next century the technology had been further refined to allow a cruising speed of Warp 6 and a maximum in excess of Warp 8, but faster speeds had been accomplished through outside intervention. Starfleet would begin testing new Warp Drive units in the mid 23rd Century intended to allow a standard cruise of Warp 8, with experimentation into transwarp beginning in the later years of the century. While transwarp was not accomplished, Starfleet did use the data to revise the Warp Scale utilized by the Federation. By the 2360s travel in excess of Warp 9 had become commonplace.

While an essential component of a Starship's power generation and propulsion systems, the Warp Drive itself came under intensified scrutiny in the year 2370. Doctor Serova, a Hekaran Warp Field Theorist, discovered that the continued usage of Warp Drive was damaging subspace. The Federation Science Council determined that Serova's theories were in error; however, she decided to conduct a practical test. Overloading her Warp Core inside the Hekaras Corridor, the resultant Core Breach resulted in the formation of a Subspace Rift. It was decided by the Federation Council to limit all Federation vessels to Warp 5 except for in periods of emergency. The Theoretical Propulsion Group was immediately tasked with correction of this issue and developed the Variable Geometry Warp Nacelle shortly afterward that negated the damage to subspace.

Hyper-Impulse Drive

While standard Impulse Engines have remained largely unchanged from being introduced in the 22nd century to today, Impulse Drive is the primary form of sublight travel in the galaxy and the source of secondary power for most starships. Since their creation, Impulse Engines have been utilized for travel within a solar system or for regions where faster than light travel is deemed impractical. In Starfleet and other Federation vessels the Impulse Drive is powered by Deuterium and is similar to a classic fusion rocket and typically consist of a series of fusion reactors, a driver coil assembly, and a vectored thrust nozzle powered by a proton-antiproton fusion reaction used to direct the plasma exhaust. The plasma generated by this reaction was then either transferred to the engines themselves or to the EPS power system utilized for powering internal systems. It is important to remember that Impulse flight performance is dependent on the specifications of the fusion reactors and the capabilities of the driver coils. Also, similar to the Warp Drive, this reaction also has the side-effect of producing a Subspace Field around the ship similar to the Warp Field and can allow a vessel to remain at Warp Speeds even when a Warp Drive unavailable.

While the Impulse Engines are capable of reaching speeds near that of light, the procedure is not recommended for usage due to safety risks to the Starship. This is due to time dilation effect causing time to move slower as the vessel comes closer to the speed of light, thus affecting the passage of time for those aboard the ship. Due to this risk no vessel is permitted to exceed 1/4 the speed of light while at Impulse. In addition the repair needs for an Impulse Drive exceed those of the Warp Drive itself, despite the unit requiring less power than a Warp Drive for usage.

The Hyper-Impulse Drive in use by Federation One has been designed to overcome this effect. Hyper Impulse Drive is an experimental form of Impulse Propulsion that began testing in 2410 as a potential replacement for a standard Impulse Drive aboard a starship. The Hyperimpulse System is designed to overcome the relativistic problems that a starship may experience as it comes closer to the speed of light, allowing for a vessel to travel at higher sublight speeds while not experiencing a time dilation effect. Despite these advantages the usage of Hyper Impulse Drive is severely restricted with the Federation and only a few Starfleet vessels have been enhanced with this Drive System. This is due to the high power costs associated with the usage of a Hyper Impulse Drive; however, testing continues on this form of propulsion.

RCS Thrusters

The Reaction Control System is used to move the ship when precise control of the ship’s maneuvering is needed, such as when a ship is traveling through an asteroid field or when entering a drydock facility. The RCS Thrusters in use by Federation One were experimental, at their time, and incorporate Impulse Propulsion Technology. The thrusters constituting the system are placed at strategic points on the outer hull of the ship in positions where they will maximize the ability of the vessel to maneuver. The process of propulsion is similar to that used by an Impulse Engine. Each engine contains a gas-fusion reaction chamber utilizing deuterium fuel where the propulsive effect begins. Exhaust from this process is fed to a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) energy field trap into the vectored-thrust exhaust nozzles. Although all thrusters serve the same basic function the speed generated varies depending upon the size of the craft. Most commonly the RCS Thrusters provide a cruising velocity of .025c; however, this can be increased to .05c as an emergency maximum speed. Additional speed is possible if deuterium flow is increased and the fuel is burned beyond safety limits.

In order to conduct an emergency shutdown of all RCS thrusters, all deuterium from the RCS system must be vented out of the system to apply the shutdown process. In the event of an emergency some vessels have been outfitted with an auxiliary RCS system. Auxiliary thrusters have no tanks or fieldtraps, and are powered by a microfusion chamber. that powers microfusion thrusters giving the vessel some maneuverability, but not to the speeds available for the standard RCS System. In severe situations - such as the thrusters are malfunctioning or have been destroyed - the Impulse Engines can be modified to provide these intricate movements, but at extreme risk to the ship and crew.