Hyperspace

Galactic travel took an amazing leap forward with the discovery of hyperspace. With the use of a hyperdrive, a starship can exceed the speed of light and enter a dimension that takes advantage of the wrinkles in the fabric of "normal" or "real" space. Hyperspace is a dimension of space-time that can only be reached by traveling at the speed of light.

Hyperspace is coterminous with realspace, which means that every point in realspace is associated with a unique point in hyperspace. If a ship travels in a specific direction in realspace prior to jumping to hyperspace, then it continues to travel in that direction through hyperspace. In addition, objects in realspace cast "shadows" into hyperspace which must be plotted and avoided in order to ensure a safe trip. A star in realspace casts a shadow of itself which exists in the corresponding hyperspace location. This makes current astrogation charts and careful jump calculations especially important to those who use hyperspace to travel the space lanes.

Hyperspace Astrogation is a skill.