The U.S.S. Protostar of Star Trek: Prodigy is either very fast or very problematic

Does Star Trek: Prodigy’s U.S.S. Protostar completely make sense or is it universe breaking?

Star Trek: Prodigy has done everything but come out and say it’s a spiritual sequel to Star Trek: Voyager. Not that we’re complaining. I personally love Voyager and would love to see a sequel series; spiritual or not. Heck the ship of the series, the Protostar, even looks a bit like Voyager.

So what’s the point of stating the obvious? Well, the Protostar is apparently the fastest ship in the universe, but it’s also the most mysterious and potentially universe-breaking. It’s clear that the ship is based on, and designed to be more like the Voyager. Its general look, the ship’s whole speed factor (Voyager was a fast ship as well), and the fact their Emergency Medical Hologram is literally the captain of Voyager.

The Protostar also has designs that seem to suggest that some of its designs came from the Hirogen, which would have to be given to Starfleet by Janway at some point during the latter end of the mission thanks to the Pathfinder Project or after her return.

All of these details highly suggest the Protostar was built, or at the very least, finished after Voyager returned home.

The Protostar timeline is potentially universe breaking if not handled right.

Prodigy is set only a few years after Voyager. We all know that it took seven years for the Voyager crew to get basically a quarter of the way through that quadrant, with the rest being achieved due to a series of Borg subspace passages.

With the show being set somewhere in the Delta Quadrant, it could be assumed they’re someplace that Voyager never went to. That could be at the Alpha and Delta quadrant border or somewhere deep inside.

Factor in the fact the ship has been abandoned for a few years and you’re looking at a travel window of three to maybe five years tops depending on when the ship first launched.

Five years to possibly find itself deep in the heart of the Delta Quadrant? That seems hard to believe and even with its new engines, would really make things a bit too hard to believe and accept.

That said, there are so many simple explanations that the producers could go with. Like wormholes, another Caretaker scenario, and being from the future. While there are concerning plot details the series could go with, it would make far more sense for the ship to go missing in a wormhole or blackhole shortly after its first test flight.