We have mentioned in previous issues of VOICES how our Ancestors propelled themselves across space, but we will review it briefly here for our new readers.
We had four basic types of propulsion, that were used depending how close you were to a planetary body. Our planetary drive was basic anti-gravity. It is how we exited off from a planetary surface, and is also what protected the crew from gravitational stress during high speed flight. Once you got away from a planet you could ignite your system drive which was an excellerated nuclear reactor that ripped the fabric of space and caused you to be sucked forward as space was sucked around you to close the breech you had created.
This was the first drive with which our Ancestors exceeded the speed of light, but it was limited to about two factors, a factor being one-hundred times the speed of light! A more powerful system had to be developed.
For a short time we flirted with matter/anti-matter propulsion but found it too difficult to manage, and after a couple of catastrophic accidents this research was abandoned, and we turned, instead, to positive/negative matter drive, which proved to be far more reliable and much safer. Though it had to be given a great deal of respect.
Once your system engine had gotten you far enough away from the sun that you could ignite your star drive engine, positive and negative matter was released into the engine chambers and as it bonded back into matter the energy discharge created ripped the fabric of space far greater than the system drive, and you were sucked forward.
The best speed we could reach was Factor 7. We could actually go faster than this, but above that speed we lost the ability to steer. And higher speeds were only used in absolute emergencies, as the risk of coming too close to a sun and kiling everyone on your vessel was very high. And also, you could end up FAR from where you wanted to be. So factor 7 was just about our limit.
We had a fourth type of propulsion.....leap. It was found that when a fregment of a rare crystal found on heavy massed planets was injected into our star drive and burned in the positive/negative matter reaction, it caused the ship to wink out of existence, hurtle across space, and rematerialize near where you wanted to be.
Leap could cover vast distances in a very short time. But it was only used for military operations, as the crystals could not be replicated.