Alkubbyer-Shakya Drive

The **Alkubbyer-Shakya drive** is a series of devices that creates a bubble of localized spacetime, a sort of "pocket dimension" known as a **Shakyan bubble**, around a starship with points of distorted gravity fore and aft of the vessel. The point fore of the ship experiences collapsing gravity whereas the aft point experiences expanding gravity, thus allowing the traveling starship to "fall" forward toward its destination. With this capability, vessels are able to travel at speeds well over *c* (the speed of light) while not breaking the laws of physics as the ship is not in baseline reality to do so.

## Background

The drive's background is largely shrouded in mystery, but it must have at least been in use 20.000 ADk as recovered pre-Dusk documents have been recovered and deciphered dating to 20.343 ADk detailing the usage of the Alkubbyer-Shakya drive.

## Alkubbyer Metric

The **Alkubbyer metric** defines the drive spacetime. The Lorretts manifold, in the context of general relativity, allows a Shakyan bubble to appear in what was previously flat spacetime and move away at speeds exceeding *c* from an outside perspective. Inside the bubble is an inertial reference frame and those within do not experience acceleration. As this method of faster-than-light transportation does not involve objects in motion at superluminal speeds relative to other objects within the bubble, objects experiences physical existence as they would outside of the bubble. For example, light caught in the bubble will travel faster than the jumpship that occupies the same sub-space.

Since objects within the bubble do not move (locally) more quickly than light, the Alkubbyer metric mathematical formulae is consistent with claims set forth by the laws of relativity—that objects with mass cannot attain or exceed the speed of light—negating conventional relativistic effects, namely time dilation. Outside of the usual framework, time dilation in baseline reality would not affect objects within a Shakyan bubble as they would with conventional motion at near *c*.

## Operation

Entering a Shakyan bubble requires no thrust nor does it add additional thrust upon translation into realspace. Any thrust experienced by a starship is maintained upon exit, so widespread practice by starship captains and crew is to activate Alkubbyer-Shakya drives while not in motion so that they may assess their options upon arriving at their destination.

While inside the Shakyan bubble, vessels are blind to the greater universe around them, seeing only a pinpoint of light fore (the star the vessel is approaching) and a ring of light aft of them (the star that it has left behind).

Inversely, there is no physical indication of a ship in-bubble to those in realspace, effectively acting as a shield to a wide means of detection. RADAR, LADAR, IR, thermal, radiological, and other means of detection that require the physical presence of a starship in realspace are all ineffective. The only means of discovery is by gravitational sensory detection, whereupon an empty space will possess a level of gravity that should have none. As there is no physical presence in realspace, a ship is equally shielded from physical damage by stellar debris or attempts to harm it.

### Field Generation

A **Shakyan bubble** is a pocket dimension generated by the interaction between Gaarane condensate and hygs bosons within a jumpship's cayfurnas.

A hygs boson is generated in a jumpship's particle accelerator. Given their incredibly short lifespan, the hygs boson's direction and velocity is carefully controlled to collide with intersecting particle beams angled to follow the boson's path. The velocity of the hygs boson needs to be approaching *c*, thus experiencing time dilation, to travel several meters outside the ship before they disintegrate as not to tear the ship apart.

Once the hygs boson is created and enters the cayfurnas, the Gaarane ichor's passive energetic field resonates with the hygs boson, changing its properties—transforming it into a so called "degenerated boson"—to create an area of negative mass, or a **null field**. The null field, together with its counterpart the **Cassymar ring** at amidships of the jumpship, creates what is known as the **Shakyan bubble**.

### Creating "Forward" Momentum

Cassymar void (sometimes "**cas'm'v'd**") to create collapsing spacetime fore and expanding spacetime aft of the vessel.

## Safety Concerns

Shakya drives create a dangerous possibility where, upon translating into baseline reality, there is a chance that jumpships may appear within other objects whether they be a star, a planet, or however unlikely, krysrealms, stations, and even other starships. Given the necessary-but-dangerous nature of Shakyan travel, jumpships are required by international caeletime laws to drop into "realspace" 400.000 kilometers from their destination, where upon jumpships would be required to sail under M-AM fusion engines.

## Known Models

* Kaahin GS-5-J550 Alkubbyer-Shakya Drive, *designed and producted by Kaahin Heavy Astrical Industries (Kiith Kaahin)*