Explanations

Shaka was working in her small corner at the slipstream drive station. She was pretty happy about it; everything she needed was right at her fingertips. Watching her sensors, she saw something unusual coming up. "All hands." She announced, "Brace for impact!" The computer obediently went to Red Alert.

Captain Devore immediately commented, bracing himself, "What the hell ? Lieutenant, you'd better...." The sudden shaking of the ship cut him off in mid-sentence. The ship didn't shake very violently, but could have been hazardous for anyone standing up or not prepared. Half a minute later, the rumbling stopped.

"Lieutenant, report !" Devore shouted to Shaka.

"This is what I meant about integrating the long-range sensors closer to the slipstream drive." Shaka said. "We just flew through a subspace eddy that caused some slight disruptions in the slipstream. We're fine now, but I'm headed for engineering to take a look at the drive." She said, standing up as she spoke.

"Of course." Devore remarked.

"You're in my seat." A new voice said.

Mostly to be spiteful, Shaka sat down again. "I'm sorry, you must be mistaken. This is a slipstream drive station." She said in a mock concern voice. "By the way, I'm Lieutenant JG Shaka. Who are you ?"

"Anderson. Lieutenant John Anderson; I'm here on temporary assignment. Don't most ships have a science II station here ?"

"Well, for the past month, it has been redesignated 'slipstream drive one'." Shaka said.

"You should treat a superior officer with more respect," Anderson remarked. Shaka looked at Anderson in silence as she heard a slight snicker from the Captain's direction. "I've heard a lot about slipstream theory, but I didn't take it too seriously at the Academy. It seemed too theoretical."

"That's where we differ." Shaka said. "I'm going to engineering now to take a look at the drive."

"Mind if I join you ?" Anderson asked.

"If you must." She sighed, moving for the turbolift.

"What essentially happens...." Shaka began explaining as they walked, "...is the ship creates a subspace 'river' directly in front of it. The nacelles and the deflector dishes generate a subspace field around the ship that allows us to ride the 'river', so to speak. The accelerated speed is due to the fact we're in the wake of the subspace field ahead of us."

"How does the ship compensate for drag ?" Anderson asked curiously.

"I spent a good deal of time at the Academy studying something you blew off as theory. It would take me too long to explain fully, but let me assure you, it does work."

He seemed slightly offended at her hostility. "Okay." John said, taking a figurative step back."Can you tell me some drawbacks ?"

Shaka calmed down slightly; it was a legitimate question. "Well..." she said, "....it's hard to stop when the ship gets going that fast the whole trip is essentially math. Whenever we have to deviate from our course, it's a bumpy ride." Turning a corner, she continued. "Slipstreams are also residual; they stick around for anywhere from nanoseconds to a minute, depending on the speed, density of space and subspace, etc., before they dissipate completely. This wouldn't be a problem, but the subspace slipstreams destabilize the warp field of a ship traveling at warp speed, tripping them up, so to speak."

"Now, you have to tell me about the advantages." Anderson said.

"Maybe another time," Shaka said. "We're here." Shaka and Anderson looked upward at the slipstream drive. Pulling a tricorder off a nearby table, Shaka began scanning. "You don't have to stick around." She said.