The quantum slipstream drive is an advanced form of interstellar propulsion that achieved and exceeded what failed Federation attempts using transwarp were meant to do: exceed the warp speed barrier. Originally developed by an advanced species native to the Delta Quadrant, the technology was obtained by the USS Voyager in 2374 and used for an aborted test in early 2375 that nearly destroyed the ship.
The slipstream is a narrowly-focused, directed warp field that is initiated by manipulating the fabric of the space-time continuum at the quantum level. It works by focusing a quantum field through a deflector dish to generate massive changes in local space curvature; this creates a subspace tunnel, which is projected in front of the vessel. Once a ship has entered this tunnel, the forces inside propel it at incredible speed. In order to maintain the slipstream a ship has to constantly modify the quantum field with its deflector dish; however, the calculations involved were too complicated for Voyager's 24th century Starfleet technology, and the time available is too short before the vessel out-paces the tunnel, collapsing the slipstream.
HISTORYFollowing Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant, the ship was remanded into the custody of "Project Full Circle". Voyager underwent an extensive "retorfit" in order to return the ship to it's "Line Specifications" and all of the advanced technology was left in the hands of Full Circle.
Once the technology was handed over to Project Full Circle,
Project Director Lucas Jones; Commander, Starfleet began working on a way to implement this drive into active field ready ships. When the Archangel was selected as the test bed for the QSD, it underwent a two month refit in order to reinforce the superstructure, navigational deflector, and the Structural Integrity Field.
The Federation Mark II Reverse Engineered Quantum Slipstream Drive is the first Alpha Quadrant attempt to replicate the technology. The drive is composed of two integrated units:
- The Quantum Slipstream Core
And the,
- Positronic Quantum Field Calculation Matrix
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QUANTUM SLIPSTREAM CORELocated on Deck 18 directly behind the Navigational Deflector, and directly beneath the secondary computer core in the center line of the deck, the Quantum Slipstream Core is a chamber measuring 2.3 meters in height, and 2.5 meters in diameter. It is constructed from fifteen layers of hafnium six excelion-infused carbonitrium, phase-transition micro welded under a pressure of 75,000 kilo pascals. The four outer layers are armored with acrossenite arkenide for 20x over pressure protection.
The equatorial band of the chamber contains the housing for quantum singularity containment chamber (QSCC). An armored hatch (facing Aft) allows access to the QSCC for replacement and adjustment of the singularity chamber. The QSCC consists of a EM-Isolated subspace "cradle" to hold a forced artificial quantum singularity approximatly a centimeter is diameter.
Connecting the equatorial band to the upper and lower halves of the chamber are fifty structural pins. These pins are hafnium eight molyferrenite and are reinforced in tension, compression, and torsion, and are continuous with the core's "personal" structural integrity field. Running along the center of the equatorial band are two layers of difused neutronium for reaction energy containment. Just above the QSCC hatch is the engraving
Hello,
My name is
Quincy
As a safety precaution, the core can be physically ejected from the ship should an event such as the catastrophic failure of the containment of the singularity reaction occur and the crew decides it cannot be corrected.
The slipstream can only be entered while traveling at impulse speeds. As the quantum slipstream drive system undergoes start up, the four terrawatts of energetic plasma energy generated is directed towards the bow along the ships center line. The power transfer conduit (PTC) is magnetically similar to the constrictor segments of a standard warp core, in that they constrain the plasma to the center of the of the channel and peristaltically force the plasma towards the primary navigational deflector, where the deflector utilizes the energy to generate the quantum field required for slipstream travel. Once a stable slipstream tunnel has been established, the PQFCM takes over the modulation of the field from helm, and power is routed from the primary warp drive to the Structural Integrity Field.
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POSITRONIC QUANTUM FIELD CALCULATION MATRIX Integrated into the control interface of the chamber on the port side, the Positronic Quantum Field Calculation Matrix (PQFCM) is an extremely sophisticated computation device created by Commander Lucas Jones based on the designs of Dr. Noonien Soong. This matrix is not, nor does it have the ability to achieve artificial intelligence. The unit was built with an ultimate storage capacity of eight hundred quadrillion bits (approximately 90,949.5 terabytes or 88 petabytes) and a total linear computational speed rated at sixty trillion operations per second. this unit is designed specifically for the calculation of and modulation of the Slipstream's quantum field.
Even with all the precautions and reinforcement to the ships SIF, deflector, and superstructure, the slipstream drive is still experimental. Even with these implementations, Quantum Slipstream Drive has, in all simulations, proved too much for Archangel's structural integrity to handle for extended periods of time longer than an hour, and requires a minimum of six hours between individual uses. this gives the Slipstream a 23.07 LY range per individual jump.
SLIPSTREAM FLIGHT INFORMATION INPUTThere are five input modes available for Quantum Slipstream drive. Any of these options may be entered by keyboard or vocal command. Due to the possible difficulties of the system, implementation of the QSD requires authorization from the helm officer and either the Executive Officer or the Commanding Officer. Input modes are as follows
- Destination Planet or System: Any celestial object within the navigational database inside of the drives "jump range" is acceptable as a destination, although the system will inform the Conn in the event the destination exceeds the operating range of the drive.
- Destination Sector: A sector identification number or sector common name is valid as a destination. In the absence of a specific destination in that sector, the flight path will default to the geometric center of the specified sector.
- Relative Bearing: A flight vector can be specified as an azimuth/elevation relative to the current orientation of the Archangel. In such cases, 000-mark-0 represents a flight vector straight ahead.
- Absolute Heading: A flight vector can also be specified as an azimuth/elevation relative to the center of the galaxy. In such cases, 000-mark-0 represents a flight vector from the Archangel towards the center of the galaxy
- Galactic coordinates: Standard galactic XYZ coordinates are also acceptable as valid input, although most ships personnel find this cumbersome.