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In the TNG episode "The Nth Degree", Barcley uses a subspace inversion to transport the Enterprise a phenomenal distance, but it doesn't seem to be an actual mode of transportation. Maybe this is a one-off fastest form of travel. Are transwarp conduits the fastest consistent form of travel?

So my questions are:

  • What is the the fastest one-off or special form of travel?
  • What is the fastest standard or widely used form of travel?
  • What rate of speed are we talking about?
TheLethalCarrot
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10 Answers10

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In Voyager "Threshold", Tom Paris achieves Warp 10: "infinite velocity"

From the episode (see also here and here):

KIM: In principle, if you were ever to reach warp ten, you'd be travelling at infinite velocity.

NEELIX: Infinite velocity. Got it. So that means very fast.

PARIS: It means that you would occupy every point in the universe simultaneously. In theory, you could go any place in the wink of an eye. Time and distance would have no meaning.

In the episode, Tom Paris actually achieves this speed via a kind of "transwarp" technology developed for one of Voyager's shuttles, resulting in weird consequences for the character and one of the Star Trek franchise's most questionable products:

enter image description here

As you can't get faster than infinite velocity and occupying all points in space at once, this is the fastest one-off form of travel in Star Trek.

The fastest standard / wisely-used forms of travel that we have seen on-screen would be Borg transwarp conduits: while less than Warp 10, they greatly exceed Voyager's top speed of Warp 9.9 given what they allow Voyager to achieve in the final episode, "Endgame".

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Praxis
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    This episode doesn't exist. Sorry. You lose. – Valorum Mar 17 '16 at 15:48
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    @Richard : I wish. I really do. – Praxis Mar 17 '16 at 15:49
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    Nope. I checked. No such episode exists. – Valorum Mar 17 '16 at 16:39
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    @Richard : I've put in links to the episode, for casual users who might take our banter at face value. :-) – Praxis Mar 17 '16 at 16:43
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    @Richard Apart from the obvious evidence in links, I can confirm the episode does exist, having done a ST Voyager watch-through again of the whole series last week. – Thomas Ward Mar 17 '16 at 18:29
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    I'm gonna have to go with @Richard on this. I think you're all delusional. – T.J.L. Mar 17 '16 at 19:17
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    @Richard https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/63134/is-the-voyager-episode-threshold-considered-canon –  Mar 17 '16 at 19:19
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    "You can't get faster than infinite velocity": I guess we have to exclude the various instances of time travel, in which people arrive before they left. – Nate Eldredge Mar 17 '16 at 19:44
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    @NateEldredge: Time travel likely falls outside the spirit of the question. :-) – Praxis Mar 17 '16 at 19:49
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    Why are Richard and TJL saying it doesn't exist? Is there an inside joke I'm outside of? – Tracy Cramer Mar 17 '16 at 23:44
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    @TracyCramer it doesn't exist for the very reason it shouldn't exist. KILL IT WITH FIRE (alongside SW Xmas special) –  Mar 18 '16 at 00:53
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    @TracyCramer : It's just wishful thinking on their part. It's considered one of the worst episodes of Star Trek ever (not as bad as TOS "Spock's Brain", of course). – Praxis Mar 18 '16 at 00:57
  • I just bought this action figure from Amazon ... – Ross Presser Mar 18 '16 at 05:16
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    @TracyCramer: it’s just one of those strange urban myths that won’t die, like sequels to The Matrix, or a live-action movie version of Avatar: the Last Airbender. – PLL Mar 18 '16 at 13:24
  • For more information on why some people treat Threshold as non-canon: http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/63134/is-the-voyager-episode-threshold-considered-canon – trlkly Mar 18 '16 at 17:45
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    @trikly : Michael provided that link a few comments above you. But the fact of the matter is that it is canon. It has never formally been retracted by anyone involved with the show, and a statement by Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris actor) that has nothing to do with "Threshold" had been mutated over time so as to appear that he was disowning the episode (when he wasn't). The episode is listed in the official database of Trek episodes, with no warnings about canonicity: http://www.startrek.com/database_article/threshold – Praxis Mar 18 '16 at 19:05
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    Clearly, occupying all places in the universe at once causes you to collide with everything in the universe, and be destroyed. You can't get deader than infinite velocity and occupying all points in space at once. Or possibly sent to a sci fi universe no ones likes or admits exists. – Dronz Mar 18 '16 at 19:51
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    Wasn't this episode part of the Star Wars Christmas Special? – Dewi Morgan Mar 18 '16 at 20:00
  • I could swear the "Future Enterprise" in the final episode of TNG could do Warp 13. Maybe I'm remembering that wrong... or maybe it just said that in the card game – thanby Mar 19 '16 at 14:42
  • @thanby : It did! But that's widely accepted to be a future re-scaling of warp speeds (so that Warp 13 in their time is less than Warp 10 in TNG / DS9 / VOY time). – Praxis Mar 19 '16 at 14:51
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    @Praxis In other words, the script writer called for it just assuming it was a thing that should happen, and someone later said "Hey that doesn't make sense..." – thanby Mar 19 '16 at 15:11
  • What I like is that apparently the figurine has been marked down from $7.99 to $10.00! I guess technically, it should be infinitely expensive… – CJ Dennis Mar 20 '16 at 09:54
  • @CJDennis it's been marked down from 7.99 to 3 for 10, if you look closely. Sadly. – Weaver Mar 20 '16 at 15:39
  • @StarWeaver So you can buy mutated Paris, mutated Janeway and one of their babies for $10? Bargain! – CJ Dennis Mar 21 '16 at 03:27
  • @CJDennis : It actually comes with all three of their mutated babies! – Praxis Mar 21 '16 at 03:28
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Quoting from the Star Trek TNG Technical Manual (Considered a canon source of information about the Trek universe), we have the following "author's note" from series Writer and Producer Rick Berman

"Figuring out how "fast" various warp speeds are was pretty complicated, but not just from a "scientific" viewpoint. First, we had to satisfy the general fan expectation that the new ship was significantly faster than the original. Second, we had to work with Gene's recalibration, which put Warp 10 at the absolute top of the scale. These first two constraints are fairly simple, but we quickly discovered that it was easy to make warp speeds TOO fast. Beyond a certain speed, we found that the ship would be able to cross the entire galaxy within a matter of just a few months. (Having the ship too fast would make the galaxy too small a place for the Star Trek format.) Finally, we had to provide some loophole for various powerful aliens like Q, who have a knack for tossing the ship millions of light years in the time of a commercial break. Our solution was to redraw the warp curve so that the exponent of the warp factor increases gradually, then sharply as you approach Warp 10. At Warp 10, the exponent (and the speed) would be infinite, so you could never reach this value. (Mike used an Excel spreadsheet to calculate the speeds and times.) This lets Q and his friends have fun in the 9.9999+ range, but also lets our ship travel slowly enough to keep the galaxy a big place, and meets the other criteria. (By the way, we estimate that in "Where No One Has Gone Before" the Traveler was probably propelling the Enterprise at about Warp 9.9999999996. Good thing they were in the carpool lane.)"

So there you have it. The Q have the ability to travel (within the bounds of the universe) at speeds of warp 9.9999+. Not only that, but as we can see from the Voyager episode Death Wish, they're also able to use time travel to travel to any point within the universe's existence, effectively rendering them capable of traveling to any point in the universe instantaneously.

So, the fastest way to travel is...by clicking your fingers and wishing.

Valorum
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    Dang!! Travel by Q was going to be my answer but you beat me to it :( -- grumble-grumble +1 – user23715 Mar 17 '16 at 20:25
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    @user23715 - You've got to be pretty quick to get in before me. – Valorum Mar 17 '16 at 22:16
  • Before you is not my concern... You being right all the time is getting a little annoying however. :p -- Seriously though, travel by Q is the secret right answer to OP's question. – user23715 Mar 18 '16 at 01:15
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    @user23715 : Not really. I don't see how how you can argue that "travel by Q" is faster in any substantive way than what Tom achieved in "Threshold". Also, Richard's answer doesn't answer the whole question, which asks for both one-off and widely-used forms of travel. Also, the spirit of the question suggests mechanical means of travel. – Praxis Mar 18 '16 at 02:27
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    @Praxis - The Q use it widely. – Valorum Mar 18 '16 at 08:37
  • The Q method is also reliable, whereas the "Threshold" method is very bad for your skin. – Omegacron Mar 18 '16 at 14:52
  • It's been many years, but in "All good things" didn't Riker in charge of the future version of the Enterprise have a line like "Set a course for federation territory, warp 13!" – Mikey Mouse Mar 18 '16 at 16:09
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    @MikeyMouse - The general concensus is that they changed the scale to avoid having to say something like "set a course, warp 9.9934", not that the speeds can now exceed Warp 10. – Valorum Mar 18 '16 at 16:16
  • Ah, makes sense. Kinda.... at least they didn't turn into Lizards on arrival – Mikey Mouse Mar 18 '16 at 16:18
  • @Praxis The one argument I have is that infinite velocity is different than the largest finite velocity. Infinity is not on the same scale as finite numbers. You can't get to infinite velocity no matter how fast you travel. So infinite velocity is something different. Given this, we would only be able to use the fastest finite velocity given in the episode: which is 9.99. That said, the episode does seem to actually accelerate up to infinite speed, so what's true in real math may not be true in Star Trek math. – trlkly Mar 18 '16 at 18:01
  • @trikly : But the fact of the matter is that they did achieve it in "Threshold", and the data collected from the shuttle seemed to confirm the theory that Tom had occupied all points in space at once. – Praxis Mar 18 '16 at 19:06
  • @Praxis - Travel by Q may not be faster but it is far more reliable and, as Richard points out, is quite widely used. -- Hence, my secret right answer meets both criteria of the OP. -- The experiment by Tom Paris is functionally useless even if it is technically tied for 1st place as a "fastest form of travel". What use does a finite being have for occupying "all points in space at once"? -- It's like saying Tom is "infinitely rich". So what? How does a finite being spend "all possible wealth"? -- Infinite wealth is about as useful as achieving "Threshold" speed. :) – user23715 Mar 18 '16 at 20:49
  • @user23175 : The OP asked for fastest one-off (by definition, something that doesn't have to be re-usable or reliable). That's what I gave. Again, the spirit of the question is about transport innovations / mechanical means of transportation. The OP must agree seeing as he / she marked my answer correct. Your secret right answer is just that --- yours. :-) – Praxis Mar 18 '16 at 21:12
  • @Praxis -- Yes, but Tom Paris's "achievement" is, by definition, nonsense. "all points in space at once" isn't even a mathematical abstraction. -- The Q Continuum might be indistinguishable from magic but then that's pretty much how the series presents them. Presenting "Threshold" as science is just lazy. On a charitable day I might call it a koan instead. -- And my right answer wouldn't be a secret if someone else knows it and believes it. So I'm good. :p – user23715 Mar 18 '16 at 23:12
  • @user23715 : In-universe, we have to accept what we see on screen. Also, if we are judging by out-of-universe standards, then I fail to see how Q's powers are any less nonsensical than Tom's transwarp drive. In any case, we can agree to disagree. :-) – Praxis Mar 19 '16 at 05:39
  • @Praxis -- But I'm judging by In-universe standards. And In-universe "Threshold" is presented as science; it's supposed to make sense in some rational way as an extension or extrapolation of current understanding. However, as presented, "Threshold" is not science, not even pretend science like the Heisenberg Compensator. -- The Q are just and always a fun way for the writers to make impossible things happen. -- But yeah, we can agree to disagree. ;) – user23715 Apr 08 '16 at 20:52
  • @user23715 : Hehe, we're discussing fastest travel but that was the slowest response ever! ;-) – Praxis Apr 08 '16 at 20:55
  • @Praxis -- Well, maybe not slowest ever but I'm not on the Exchanges to score points/gain rep so sometimes I exhibit a little lagginess. – user23715 Apr 08 '16 at 21:03
  • A point in favor of the Q max speed VS Tom Paris' max speed: Tom Paris' method requires acceleration, which cuts into your overall trip time, whereas the Q method is instantaneous. – GWLlosa Jan 02 '18 at 19:45
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Wormholes in the Trek universe allow for transit to any linked point in the galaxy instantly. In fact, the linked point might actually be at a previous time as well (which I think makes any "velocity" calculation you might try to perform involve either a negative result or an imaginary number, depending on how you look at it).

There was a relatively stable wormhole that was used for transit purposes in the DS9 series. According to Daniel in the comments below, traveling through it works out to about Warp 9.999999999999916.

Now you could argue that any "velocity" number derived for wormhole travel is nonsensical because you aren't transiting all the points in between your two points. However, that same argument could be made for any supposed velocity past Warp 1. You aren't actually traveling faster than light (because that can't be done), but rather you are cheating the universal speed limit by playing tricks with space-time.

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T.E.D.
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  • Going through the Bajoran wormhole is not instantaneous though, they show ships going through the wormhole "tunnel" several times, and it seems to take about half a minute. The wormhole spans 70,000 light years. If my calculations are correct, that would correspond to about 74 billion times the speed of light – Junuxx Mar 17 '16 at 19:16
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    @Junuxx - Someone here probably knows how to convert that to a Warp 9+ factor. But its just for that one. How about a wormhole that goes back in time by 100 years as well? (For that matter, do we know how far back/forward in time the BJ wormhole went? If it went back the amount you were in it, it would theoretically be a wash, and you'd have to divide by 0). – T.E.D. Mar 17 '16 at 19:35
  • I don't think there's a time difference in the Bajoran wormhole? But yeah, it would be difficult to calculate an effective "speed" for a wormhole like the one in Eye of the Needle. – Junuxx Mar 17 '16 at 20:33
  • @T.E.D.: In the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Eye of the Needle", we learn that it's possible to tell when someone who's passed through a wormhole is now "out of time" as a result. Since no such thing is ever mentioned in Deep Space Nine, I think we're to assume that both ends of the Bajoran wormhole are temporally aligned. – ruakh Mar 17 '16 at 20:40
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    @T.E.D. That speed is approximately Warp Factor 9.999999999999916 – Daniel Mar 17 '16 at 20:51
  • @T.E.D. On time travel/wormholes to the past: sincev = s / t if you travel 1 km and go back in time 100 hours your velocity will become: v = 1 km / -100h = -0.01km/h which doesn't seem that much. :D – mg30rg Mar 18 '16 at 12:34
  • @mg30rg - I seem to remember from my physics classes that the "time" dimension in space/time required imaginary numbers to go back in, in which case a "velocity" number involving backwards time travel might require an imaginary ("i#") component. Its been 30 years though, so I could be way off here. – T.E.D. Mar 18 '16 at 13:19
  • @T.E.D. Well, I'm mostly self-thought in the subject, but I can't remember such lemmas. I think the reason I wasn't right in my comment (We both know it was a joke, right?) is that the very foundation of our natural science requires that effect can never precede the cause cause, therefore you can't draw a (4D) vector with an endpoint that precedes the startpoint. – mg30rg Mar 18 '16 at 15:32
  • +1, as this seems to be the fastest means of travel not involving becoming some kind of lizard, or being an Q, which are kind of self-limiting in terms of regular use. – RDFozz Aug 14 '18 at 17:16
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A Repulsor Beam

Perhaps not the fastest, but a VERY fast form of propulsion was that used by the Aldeans. They managed to transport the Enterprise-D 3 days away at warp 9 almost instantaneously:

RADUE [on viewscreen]: Captain, we want you to understand the nature of your choice. A small demonstration of our power. (Something whizzes around the planet and knocks the Enterprise spinning out of orbit, into deep space)

PICARD: What was that?

DATA: I believe it was a repulsor beam.

PICARD: Position report.

LAFORGE: This is unbelievable, sir. According to my calculations, we're three days from Aldea. At warp nine.

RIKER: And they call that a small demonstration?

PICARD: Geordi, get us back to Aldea. Warp nine.

LAFORGE: Aye, sir.

RADUE [on viewscreen]: Captain, if you don't accept our terms, the Enterprise will be pushed so far away that by the time you return, your children will be grandparents.

(TNG 'When the Bough Breaks')

After doing some calculations, this is a speed of approximately 3.93 x10^12km/s (assuming it took them about 3 seconds to travel that distance) i.e. 3,930,000,000,000 km per second

Whether or not this was a 'small demonstration' or not is up for debate, but considering their technological feats of being able to cloak an entire planet, it wouldn't at all surprise me if they could push them that far away.

This is pretty fast indeed!

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Often Right
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If I remember correctly, That Which Survives was a Star Trek TOS episode in which the Enterprise's warp engines rev out of control, and they pass Warp 13.2. This episode includes a 990.7 light-year leap, almost instantaneously. This has got to be fast.

Also, In 2364, the Traveler used the energy of his thoughts to move the USS Enterprise-D through space at a speed that registered on instruments as exceeding warp factor 10 and going off the warp scale. (TNG: "Where No One Has Gone Before")

Daniel
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  • Worth noting that the TOS and TNG/DS9/VOY warp scales are different. (Third vs. fifth power exponent, IIRC) – Allen Gould Mar 18 '16 at 18:42
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    In Star Trek: TAS, they hit Warp 36 apparently. This is a good rundown of Warp: http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Warp_factor – Daniel Mar 18 '16 at 18:52
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    Also, for info about the Warp Barrier, http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Warp_barrier – Daniel Mar 18 '16 at 18:54
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    Wow, this is oddly my most upvoted answer, yet my most ignorant topic... – Daniel Mar 20 '16 at 22:44
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The Spore Drive from Discovery can take it anywhere in almost an instant. It's even able to travel to the mirror universe.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Spore_drive

"The displacement-activated spore hub drive, commonly shortened to spore drive or s-drive, was an organic propulsion system the Federation experimented with during the 2240s and 2250s. The technology used mycelium spores harvested from Prototaxites stellaviatori to jump or leap across the mycelial network. During such jumps, the ships were not in normal space but in the mycelial plane. (DIS: "Context Is for Kings", "Choose Your Pain")"

https://intl.startrek.com/database_article/displacement-activated-spore-hub-drive

"An experimental technology developed by Paul Stamets and Science Officer Straal during the mid-23rd century that allowed starships to travel instantly across a mycelium network. The technology was only used on two Federation starships: the U.S.S. Glenn and the U.S.S. Discovery."

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For a technical means, and not supernatural Q/Traveler...

In the Star Trek: Destiny trilogy of novels (about 16 months after events of Nemesis), the highly advanced and xenophobic Caeliar created these subspace tunnels that were much faster than transwarp conduits and could go much further. One of them took the Enterprise to a proto-galaxy created just after the Big Bang—some 13-14 billion light years away— in a matter of seconds.

Don't know if this trilogy is considered canon or not.

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    Not canon, but definitely interesting and in the spirit of the question. – Praxis Mar 18 '16 at 21:30
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    What makes you say that Q and the Traveler are supernatural? Aren't they just typical cases of "sufficiently advanced technology"? – Junuxx Mar 19 '16 at 02:43
  • @Junuxx Actually seems to me neither Q or the Traveler seem to have abilities from technology. The Q are from a dimension that allows manipulating our universe effortlessly and The Traveler has a mental connection to subspace. – lucasbachmann Nov 17 '20 at 18:23
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Iconian gateways allowed "instantaneous" travel over distances of at least 70,000 light years.

In Star Trek Online, we find an Iconian gateway in the Andromeda Galaxy and that Iconian spacecraft open such gateways to their destinations, rather then putter along using Warp Drive.

This seems to be another "infinitely fast" form of travel.

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Perhaps 31st Century Time Travel

I'm not going to get into the temporal side of it - yes any time travel means that you technically arrive before you left so you have negative speed...

I'm just going to restrict this to actual spatial travel.

In ENT 'Carpenter Street', Archer and T'Pol are sent back to 21st century Earth instantaneously by stepping through a door. Remember that the Enterprise was at this stage in the Delphic Expanse. According to this answer, the Delphic Expanse is about 50 light years from Earth, so they just travelled 50 light years in about a second. This sounds pretty close to Warp 10 (i.e. infinite velocity) to me!

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In the episode Contagion, the Ikonians used gateways to instantaneously transport from one place to another, anywhere in the known universe--as easily as walking across a room. They were known as "demons of Air and Darkness."

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