INDUCTED FLIGHT

Basically, inducted flight allows small craft such as orbiters, to briefly attain velocities of above C, without them having to carry high-energy sources and trans C capable driver coils.

This method works by the fact that a modified driver coil, can store energy, and keep a useful propulsion field, without having to be continuously powered by a power plant. Inducted Flight Devices (I.F.D's), are found in orbit above many planets, and are especially useful, in a large solar system, as a small craft can 'jump' between planets quickly, without having to be completely refitted. 

The concession for using I.F.D's is that a craft must be fitted with a small (modified) driver coil, and the equipment associated for it to be used for controlled flight, a typical adapted setup, is not very labour intensive, and is compact enough not to compromise a small vessel.

The I.F.D array is a simple setup, at one end there is a rig to transfer energy from a generator on the rig to the craft, and the other are a long row of toroids, these are polarised gravity sources and are used to define the propulsion field of the leaving craft. Having all this equipment on the array, means that the craft does not need to carry so much hardware. The transfer of energy to the craft is usually by a stream of hot fusion plasma, which briefly charges the driver coil, and the spent plasma is vented as exhaust. Once the driver coil has been energized it produces the propulsion field, the strength of the propulsion will diminish over time, but is sufficiently lengthy to reach a near destination (is good for about 0.5 light year) at factors many times above C (generally most systems induct speed of about 10^5 C, this equates to some 2-3 minutes of trans c drive).