Blink Drive

The blink drive is the newest type of faster than light travel. Available only to those with excessive resources and connections, this highly experimental FTL drive is capable of teleporting a ship from one location to another using quantum tunneling.

A "beacon", or host particle is sent to the destination and, upon arrival, instantaneously assembles the blueprinted object in quantum space. The original object is destroyed, leaving only one copy in the process.

Currently, this technology is limited by the travel speed of the beacon particle (1C), and therefore, is best suited for quick jumps or alternative means of long distance FTL. Additionally, only one beacon may exist to a drive at any given time. This prohibits a ship from having multiple different points to jump to across the universe.

While this process is well understood and generally safe, few captains prefer this drive due to the nature of the device.

Use with other FTL drives
Scientists believe this type of drive can be paired with other types of FTL, including jump drives and jump gates. Uses of these methods are generally unknown to the public, though there is some civilian lore that supports actual military use.

With a gate, a captain could send a beacon through and then instantly blink out the other side.

Alternatively, a beacon could be built into a crude jump drive (or stored in a scouting ship), which would allow the beacon to travel faster than light. Upon reaching the destination, the parent ship could blink instantly to the beacon. The advantages for this remain largely tactical, however, the possibilities for faster travel without a human crew remain alluring to some captains.