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Warning! This page contains information regarding Star Trek: Prodigy, and thus may contain spoilers.
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Protostar engines
A protostar drive, proto-drive, proto-warp engine, protostar engine, or proto-engine, also officially known as the gravimetric protostar containment, was a type of propulsion system that was powered by a protostar, technically referred to in this case as a proto-core. This technology, developed by Starfleet, allowed the experimental Protostar-class USS Protostar to travel considerably faster than conventional warp speed by utilizing proto-warp. A ship using this drive could cross over four thousand light years in a few minutes, a journey that would normally take months to travel. (PRO: "Kobayashi", "Time Amok")
Technical data[]
The immense power of the proto-core was contained through a gravity shell that was equalized by a warp drive. (PRO: "Time Amok")
Protostar engine engaged
When activated, a third nacelle was deployed from the aft of the ship while the two main nacelles were angled into a lower position. The engine itself was a high-priority system and utilized much of the ship's overall power and could only be deactivated with command level authorization. If the ship was only left with reserve power, an active proto-drive would quickly deplete those reserves unless non-essential systems like food replicators were shut down instead. (PRO: "Terror Firma")
A rupture or other damage to the warp core could leave a warp drive unable to maintain gravitational balance and eventually lead to the detonation of the proto-drive through the uncontrolled release of the proto-core's energy (similar to the consequences of a warp core losing antimatter containment and causing a warp core breach). This could be triggered by the starship travelling through a tachyon storm. A destabilized proto-drive could fracture time on the ship into multiple parallel timelines, one for each crewmember present, in pockets moving at different oscillating speeds. Using an external warp matrix to reroute power from the primary warp drive directly to the proto-drive would stabilize it and normalize the time factures. (PRO: "Time Amok") Jankom Pog warned that a supernova warp core breach could destroy an entire star system. The only way to safely spread out the destructive energy would be to make a proto-jump which harmlessly spread the destructive energy out across light years. (PRO: "Supernova, Part 2")
At least two uses of the drive would deplete its power, rendering it inoperable. However, the protostar drive could be recharged using rapid regeneration protocols. (PRO: "A Moral Star, Part 1")
Also similar to a warp core, the proto-core required an exotic matter dilithium matrix to function. Without this component, the protostar drive was rendered offline and inoperable until it was replaced. (PRO: "A Moral Star, Part 1")
Holographic training advisors were not supplied with any knowledge of this system, nor the authorization to deactivate it. (PRO: "Terror Firma")
Under certain conditions, the drive is shown to have effects on space time. By replicating the parameters of the wormhole that had transported the Protostar to the future when she jumped and blew up the ship, Hologram Janeway was able to open up a new wormhole to the same destination. (PRO: "Supernova, Part 2") Making a jump of around 3,000 light years while the fabric of the universe was weakened by a temporal paradox, particularly one that was centered around the Protostar itself, resulted in reality fracturing around the ship and nearby. (PRO: "Cracked Mirror")
Service history[]
The USS Protostar was the first ship equipped with the drive and its mission was exploration of the Delta Quadrant under the command of Captain Chakotay. (PRO: "Kobayashi", "Asylum")
After stealing the ship from Tars Lamora, Zero found themself fascinated with the mystery of the protostar drive. (PRO: "Dream Catcher", "Terror Firma")
While fleeing from the Diviner, the Protostar's young crew discovered that the protostar drive was taking up all of the power that they needed to try and get the warp drive to go faster. Zero finally realized the proto-core's purpose and, rejecting her father, Gwyndala had the drive engaged. The Protostar jumped 4,000 light years in just a matter of minutes, traveling from the Delta Quadrant to the Gamma Quadrant. Afterwards, the drive went off-line and became inoperable. (PRO: "Terror Firma", "Kobayashi")
As the crew were preparing to jump to Federation space, the Diviner sent a message demanding that they return to Tars Lamora and turn the ship over to him, threatening the Unwanted otherwise. The protostar drive only had enough power for one more jump, meaning that they could either jump to Tars Lamora or to the Federation, but they couldn't do both. The crew ultimately decided to launch a rescue mission for the Unwanted and pretended to surrender the Protostar to the Diviner. Drednok attempted to use rapid regeneration protocols to recharge the drive, only to discover that the proto-core had been removed. The Diviner was able to get the core back and recharge the drive, but the crew retook the ship before he could use it to jump. (PRO: "A Moral Star, Part 1", "A Moral Star, Part 2")
After rescuing the Unwanted and defeating the Diviner, the crew finally made the proto-jump to Federation space, unaware that their proto-warp signature was being tracked by Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway aboard the USS Dauntless. (PRO: "A Moral Star, Part 2")
Chased by the Dauntless, the crew attempted to use the protostar drive to escape, but Janeway had the Dauntless cripple the ship before the drive could be engaged, forcing the Protostar to hide in the Romulan Neutral Zone. They later managed to fix the drive using parts taken from Noble Isle. (PRO: "Crossroads", "Masquerade", "Preludes")
In order to destroy the Protostar and the living construct, Hologram Janeway overloaded the proto-core and took the ship to proto-warp. The jump harmlessly spread the destructive energy out over light years and, with Hologram Janeway having recreated the parameters of the wormhole that had taken the Protostar to the future, opened a new wormhole to the same destination. (PRO: "Supernova, Part 2")
After escaping with the ship due to history accidentally being altered, Chakotay and Adreek-Hu ejected both the proto-core and the ship's antimatter, rendering all of the engines inoperative and the ship nearly powerless. (PRO: "Last Flight of the Protostar, Part I")
After finding Chakotay and the Protostar, Dal R'El, Rok-Tahk, Jankom Pog, Gwyn, Murf, Zero and Maj'el were able to help restore power to the impulse engines and warp drive, but the lack of a proto-core meant that the protostar drive remained inoperable. In order to reach the USS Voyager-A three thousand light years away, the crew recovered bosonite which they used to create a new proto-core. (PRO: "Last Flight of the Protostar, Part II", "A Tribble Called Quest")
With the drive restored, the Protostar was able to jump to Voyager's location. However, with the fabric of the universe already weakened by the temporal paradox, the proto-jump fractured it, resulting in an interphasic rift that consumed Voyager and fractured it into a number of alternate realities. Using the deflector dish of the ISS Voyager-A in the mirror universe, the crew was able to seal the rift and finally reach the correct Voyager. (PRO: "Cracked Mirror")
After being assigned to the new USS Prodigy, her young crew took the ship to proto-warp. (PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II")