What’s better than a hyperdrive for intergalactic travel?

[Maximum77]

I’m trying to write a Star Wars story about someone who figures out a way to travel FTL between galaxies. Hyperspace doesn’t work in the Intergalactic Void, and there is a hyperspace disturbance at the edge of the galaxy blocking travel anyway. I was trying to think of an alternative method of traveling the distance. This drive I envision could ONLY be used in the intergalactic void (so it can’t replace hyperdrive). It allows travel through the void very quickly but NOT instantaneously and there is a weird quantum glitch where the inhabitants of the ship need to wait 2 hours before piercing the veil of another galaxy or weird quantum things could happen to their ship.

Anyway I originally thought of a superfluid vacuum drive but I did a lot of research and it’s unlikely the universe is a superfluid. I know Star Wars science is soft as a marshmallow but I want some fake science that sounds realistic. Can anyone help me? I can’t think of anything.

Wormholes already exist in Star Wars.

[factotum]

The only thing I can think of that sounds anything like this is the system in Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon The Deep", where how intelligent a computer (or an organic being, for that matter) can be increases as they get further from the galactic core. In that setup, the reason FTL isn't possible around Earth is because it's too close in to the core, and the computations necessary for a ship to make an FTL jump simply aren't possible. I really don't think that fits all that well with the Star Wars universe, though...

[Khedrac]

There's the Babylon 5 Thirdspace approach - find another "level" of hyperpsace (or another dimension) that allows even faster travel.
Since most SciFi has hyperspace not accessible too close to gravity wells like suns and large planets, the same could apply that this cannot be accessed within the galaxy.

Incidentally, if you ignore the newer Star Wars films, I think you will find that the original Republic covered multiple galaxies...

[LibraryOgre]

In Legends/old canon, there's the Kwa's Infinity Gates and the Gree's Hypergates.

Hypergates work like Schlock Mercenary's teraport, so you might crib a bit from Howard for your technobabble.

[jayem]

Since most SciFi has hyperspace not accessible too close to gravity wells like suns and large planets, the same could apply that this cannot be accessed within the galaxy.

Given we're relying on the marshmellow nature of starwars. And we want something that:
between galaxies acts like hyperspace between solar systems
inside galaxies acts like hyperspace inside solar systems

Making your system 'hyperspace +' allows you to reduce the extra things they have to suspend belief for, and gives you a false floor 'explain things' from.

If you just go by timings it also gives you an easy fudge with the hyperspace not-working. If it takes a week to cross the galaxy then it takes (a few) years to go between galaxies*. Sure it could be done, just as you 'could' travel between stars in subspace. While expanding the non-hyperspace zone** means hyperspace+ isn't viable between planents

*cref outbound flight.
**don't cref the force awakens

Distance between stars 3 LY
(Distance across galaxy 50k LY)
Distance between galaxies 3million LY

So on that basis Hyperspace+ is about a million times better (which isn't too far off the difference between Subspace and Hyperspace)
We need our non-hyperspace area of effect to be at least a LY or so or else Hyperspace+ is too good intra-galaxy. Which probably isn't that far off a million times Hyperspaces too close zone (I think that comes to a mere million miles, but I could be wrong).

Realistically though Star Wars casually move the length and breadth of galaxies and you probably want the journey to be non trivial compared to a normal hyperspace hop.
So you probably looking at Hyperspace+ being around 1000 times better (or even less) which needs careful balancing to keep intergalactic hyperspace is difficult. On the other hand it makes it a much simpler scientific breakthrough.

[Peelee]

I’m trying to write a Star Wars story about someone who figures out a way to travel FTL between galaxies. Hyperspace doesn’t work in the Intergalactic Void, and there is a hyperspace disturbance at the edge of the galaxy blocking travel anyway. I was trying to think of an alternative method of traveling the distance. This drive I envision could ONLY be used in the intergalactic void (so it can’t replace hyperdrive). It allows travel through the void very quickly but NOT instantaneously and there is a weird quantum glitch where the inhabitants of the ship need to wait 2 hours before piercing the veil of another galaxy or weird quantum things could happen to their ship.

Anyway I originally thought of a superfluid vacuum drive but I did a lot of research and it’s unlikely the universe is a superfluid. I know Star Wars science is soft as a marshmallow but I want some fake science that sounds realistic. Can anyone help me? I can’t think of anything.

It sounds like you have everything already. Just toss a name on it and call it a day.

[Mastikator]

Steal something from Star Trek, they're really good at technobabble. Like "Geodesic fold" or "Subspace Vortex" or "Displacement wave".

[Keltest]

Steal something from Star Trek, they're really good at technobabble. Like "Geodesic fold" or "Subspace Vortex" or "Displacement wave".

Call it a Galaxy Drive, Star Wars doesnt do technobabble the way Trek does. It enters a level of hyperspace thats normally too dangerous to use within a galaxy because it travels so fast that even computers cant chart a course that wont collide with something. But theres much less stuff between galaxies, so its possible if dangerous to set it to "go" and actually get somewhere.

[Balyano]

How about a Gravitational Slip-Stream Drive. You create a warped corridor of of space that lets you dive to the other galaxy like a hyper-caffeinated kid diving on a slip-n-slide. It's a delicate structure easily disrupted. All those stars and black holes and planets and dust clouds of a galaxy are too much for the structure and it pops twists and disintegrates if too close to a galaxy. You have to travel outside the galaxy, then travel a bit more - about two hours of travel - then you can make the slip stream, then travel to the other galaxy, then travel a bit more - another two hours - then enter the galaxy, and then have hyper space again.

[Anonymouswizard]

It sounds like you have everything already. Just toss a name on it and call it a day.

This.

Even the hardest of science fiction had to get handwavy if it wants FTL stuff. 'it's another level of hyperspace' works just as well as 'it's the Time Vortex' or 'it's the Woobily Floo'. If you're stuck for ideas just pull a Lensman and name the drive after the creator.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Khedrac
…I think you will find that the original Republic covered multiple galaxies....

I’ve never heard this notion before. Do you have any textual support for this idea?

Ben Kenobi famously tells Luke that the Force “binds the galaxy together,” in the sense that the galaxy was essentially the entire cosmos. But if the Old Republic had encompassed several galaxies, Ben probably would have said “binds the galaxies together.”

[Khedrac]

I’ve never heard this notion before. Do you have any textual support for this idea?

Ben Kenobi famously tells Luke that the Force “binds the galaxy together,” in the sense that the galaxy was essentially the entire cosmos. But if the Old Republic had encompassed several galaxies, Ben probably would have said “binds the galaxies together.”

Now you ask I am not sure. It might have come from the first two of the three "Han Solo at... "novels rather than the offical books - I have had a quick look at my (brother's) old book copy of Star Wars and on a quick glance see nothing to support it, in fact the text below the centre pictures talks about "the Galactic Empire" which to me implies singular.

The other issue is that back in those days films did get edited (usually sticking it back together after a break) but something could get stuck in so the opening scrolling text that we saw in the cinema may not be that which George Lucas put there.

Case in point - my brother has a much better memory than I do and specifically remembers going to see The Empire Strikes back and intially thinking that they had numbered the film the same (IV) as Star Wars (also IV) before realising it was actually film VI. For years we assumed that this was correct as it left the gap for Splinter of the Mind's Eye to go into (which was an official film up past the point of asking ADF to write the novelisation, but just didn't get made). Since nowadays all the records are adamant that the number was V I assume that the film had got damaged and someone made up something to fill it back in and got it wrong. Could the same have happened with a reference to "Galaxies"?

[Mechalich]

The Old Republic nominally had some level of influence over a (very small) number of systems in the Rishi Maze. In Legends the Rishi Maze was alternatively known as Companion Aurek, and was the closest satellite galaxy to the titular Galaxy Far, Far Away in which the main stories of Star Wars take place. So technically the Old Republic could claim a presence in multiple galaxies. There was also Firefist, aka Companion Besh, which was the home of the Nagai and Tofs, who briefly 'invaded' the main galaxy during the original Star Wars Marvel Comics. The Old Republic set a small number of probes to Companion Besh, probably just to say they could, but lacked any authority there. Both the Rishi Maze and Firefist appear in a background image shown on a screen in Attack of the Clones. The Essential Atlas formulated the existence of an additional five other satellite galaxies, each significantly further from the main galaxy (this is astronomically very reasonable, the Milky Way has many such galaxies).

Regarding the OP's issue, the space between galaxies in Star Wars was known as the Intergalactic Void. The only known beings to have crossed the Intergalactic Void in Star Wars all came from the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy, including the titular Yuuzhan Vong, but also the living world Zonama Sekot, and the Silentium, a 'species' of phenomenally powerful droids. The Yuuzhan Vong and Zonama Sekot are believed to have made the intergalactic crossing at 'sublight' speeds of the course of many millennia (the math on this doesn't work, but apparently 'sublight' in Star Wars can mean several times light speed, as seen in Season 2 of the Mandalorian). The Silentium, by contrast, presumably used some phenomenally powerful conventional technology. So a good name for an intergalactic drive would be a 'Silentium Drive.'

[Peelee]

The other issue is that back in those days films did get edited (usually sticking it back together after a break) but something could get stuck in so the opening scrolling text that we saw in the cinema may not be that which George Lucas put there.

Case in point - my brother has a much better memory than I do and specifically remembers going to see The Empire Strikes back and intially thinking that they had numbered the film the same (IV) as Star Wars (also IV) before realising it was actually film VI.

I'm confused. He went to see Empire Strikes Back in theaters? And, I assume, also saw Star Wars in theaters? Because on theatrical release, the first movie was simply called "Star Wars" without any episode number at all - that was added in to the VHS release when they decided to make a sequel and dub Empire Strikes Back as Episode V, which is still not Episode VI.

Also, yeah, the Republic/Empire only spanned the one galaxy (and not even all of it, to boot).

[Khedrac]

I'm confused. He went to see Empire Strikes Back in theaters? And, I assume, also saw Star Wars in theaters? Because on theatrical release, the first movie was simply called "Star Wars" without any episode number at all - that was added in to the VHS release when they decided to make a sequel and dub Empire Strikes Back as Episode V, which is still not Episode VI.

Also, yeah, the Republic/Empire only spanned the one galaxy (and not even all of it, to boot).

Yes - the Chapter number was at the top of the scrolling text at the start of the film "Chapter IV" not in the title.

[factotum]

Yes - the Chapter number was at the top of the scrolling text at the start of the film "Chapter IV" not in the title.

Again, that wasn't the case for the original theatrical release--there was no episode number at the top of the scrolling text until the 1981 re-release.

[Khedrac]

Again, that wasn't the case for the original theatrical release--there was no episode number at the top of the scrolling text until the 1981 re-release.

Interesting - I will have to ask him about it - I don't really remember it that well - we went to see Star Wars in 1978 (boy did it take a long time to get round the cinemas in those days). Perhaps he too has constructed a false memory - not like him at all.

[DavidSh]

Wait a minute. Is this a serious proposal that a theatre, or even a distributor, made up an incorrect version of the opening scroll, and spliced it into a broken print? Because it takes some work to film a scroll like that.

[Peelee]

Interesting - I will have to ask him about it - I don't really remember it that well - we went to see Star Wars in 1978 (boy did it take a long time to get round the cinemas in those days). Perhaps he too has constructed a false memory - not like him at all.

It's actually pretty common. Memories are notoriously unreliable, especially the farther back you go.

[Ionathus]

If you're asking what will be the most acceptable to a casual reader of Star Wars-level sci-fi?

I'd go with some variation of the "folding" metaphor. I feel like people often accept that image of "what if we just scrunched the map up? Then point A will be closer to point B and we don't have to worry about speed." As others have said, just slap a technobabble word on that idea and call it a day.

[Bohandas]

Astral projection maybe? Like Luke Skywalker.

[Tvtyrant]

You could easily say that it has to do with space-time and how gravity condenses space. Light slows in gravity fields, maybe Hyperdrives slow dramatically in gravity to the point where in a strong field they are no different than impulse drives. In the nearly gravity free environment of deep space they simply move much faster.

[factotum]

You could easily say that it has to do with space-time and how gravity condenses space. Light slows in gravity fields, maybe Hyperdrives slow dramatically in gravity to the point where in a strong field they are no different than impulse drives. In the nearly gravity free environment of deep space they simply move much faster.

The big problem with that is that the OP wants this to be something somebody has only just discovered. If it was that blindingly obvious it would have been noticed before--quite apart from anything else, in "The Empire Strikes Back" the Rebel fleet where Luke gets healed is clearly mustered somewhere outside the galaxy, because you can see it in the background!

[Tvtyrant]

The big problem with that is that the OP wants this to be something somebody has only just discovered. If it was that blindingly obvious it would have been noticed before--quite apart from anything else, in "The Empire Strikes Back" the Rebel fleet where Luke gets healed is clearly mustered somewhere outside the galaxy, because you can see it in the background!

Fair enough.

Okay, alternative. Gravity propagates across different frequencies depending on how many fields there are overlapping. Because civilizations are within quadrillion plus layered fields (one frequency for each higgs boson) they can't see the frequencies, too much distortion. A science vessel deep between galaxies manned by drones finally found the frequencies for explicitly just interstellar gravity, and so they can now attune their drive to it.

[Mechalich]

The big problem with that is that the OP wants this to be something somebody has only just discovered. If it was that blindingly obvious it would have been noticed before--quite apart from anything else, in "The Empire Strikes Back" the Rebel fleet where Luke gets healed is clearly mustered somewhere outside the galaxy, because you can see it in the background!

'Outside the galaxy' is somewhat more contentious than is seems, visually. The galactic halo of the Milky Way (and presumably most other, similarly sized galaxies) extends considerably further than the visible galactic disk. So it's possible to move to a distance where the galactic disk would be visible - as it is as the end of ESB - while still being within the galaxy, gravitationally. And since hyperspace interacts with realspace in Star Wars primarily through gravity that's actually extremely significant - hyperspace doesn't work in the intergalactic void because the intergalactic gravitational environment is different, and this is mostly about dark matter, not the presence of any visible stars.

And Star Wars, as a setting, is full of 'lost technologies.' Scientific advancement in the setting is remarkably constrained and the Republic iteration of galactic civilization is actually in many ways a cargo cult civilization living in the background of several significantly superior prior civs (Rakata, Kwa, Gree, and others). As mentioned before, the Silentium absolutely managed to reach the main Star Wars galaxy from the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy and they presumably have some kind of drive that enabled them to do so. If a Silentium could be captured or killed and their drive could conceivably be reverse engineered (good luck with that).

Hypothetically the intergalactic void could be breached by utilizing some other alternate dimension that isn't hyperspace, such as Otherspace or whatever bizarre universe Waru came from, as they might not interact with the known universe via gravity and could therefore operate in the intergalactic void. For example, if Waru's dimension is mediated via the Weak Force (this idea amuses me for some strange reason), that would work.

[Storm_Of_Snow]

As there's less stuff to navigate around, you could potentially go a lot faster than within the galaxy, and if there's bodies in the space between the galaxies (brown dwarves, rogue planets etc which could maintain settlements), you could potentially hyperspace hop between them so you're not too far from help if something goes wrong.

Or what about something like the Midway station in Stargate:Atlantis - a constructed link between two systems in each galaxy (and it gives you plot points around someone trying to blockade the galactic link).

[The_Ditto]

My vote is:

https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/...bability_Drive

"The Infinite Improbability Drive was a wonderful new method of crossing interstellar distances in a mere nothingth of a second, without "tedious mucking about in hyperspace.""

[Radar]

My vote is:

https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/...bability_Drive

"The Infinite Improbability Drive was a wonderful new method of crossing interstellar distances in a mere nothingth of a second, without "tedious mucking about in hyperspace.""

And risk becoming a flower pot again?

"The Bistromatic Drive is a wonderful new method of crossing vast interstellar distances without all that dangerous mucking about with Improbability Factors."

That or be prepared to overdrive regular engines up to ludicrous speed.

[Rynjin]

I'm confused. He went to see Empire Strikes Back in theaters? And, I assume, also saw Star Wars in theaters? Because on theatrical release, the first movie was simply called "Star Wars" without any episode number at all - that was added in to the VHS release when they decided to make a sequel and dub Empire Strikes Back as Episode V, which is still not Episode VI.

Also, yeah, the Republic/Empire only spanned the one galaxy (and not even all of it, to boot).

IIRC when the special editions came out they re-ran the entire trilogy in theaters again as part of the anniversary celebrations.

So his brother may just be remembering seeing the re-release and getting confused.

RE: the topic: I've always been a fan of the "quantum entanglement" concept, generally used for instantaneous communications through space. Could probably be tweaked to make a "quantum entanglement drive" that essentially "tricks" the universe into thing one place and another place are the same place, allowing for instantaneous travel between locations.

There's also the wackier version of the same concept from Space Dandy, where FTL travel is COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE, and yet Dandy (and seemingly everyone else) has some kind of odd warp drive that gets them anywhere they need to go.

Turns out, this drive is actually an INTERDIMENSIONAL travel device that simply puts you in an alternate dimension/timeline/universe/whatever where pretty much everything is the same except you already are where you wanted to be.

Sadly the only clip I can find is from the inferior Japanese dub, but it explains the concept well enough.

[Peelee]

IIRC when the special editions came out they re-ran the entire trilogy in theaters again as part of the anniversary celebrations.

So his brother may just be remembering seeing the re-release and getting confused.

That's a fair thought. It's definitely how I was introduced to Star Wars.

Though all the other stuff about movies having stuff edited into them or being altered due to damage (which I'm reading as "in the theater's projection booth") is.... really out there. Surprised I didn't catch onto that before. Unless I'm completely mistaken and it's not supposed to be projection booth but rather the production company's editing room.

ETA: Also, back to the actual topic, Maximum, I have a question that I actually would like an answer to, if you can. How much of the story have you written so far?