An experimental Starfleet propulsion system that draws on a contained protostar to reach speeds far beyond ordinary warp, fitted to the USS Protostar and operated by Dal's young crew.
The protostar drive, or proto-drive, is the secret of the USS Protostar (NX-76884) in Star Trek: Prodigy. A newborn star is held inside a gravimetric containment field in the engine room, and its energy drives a third engine that unfolds from the hull beside the two normal warp nacelles.
The ship was sent under Captain Chakotay to return to the Delta Quadrant and was lost. In 2383 Dal R'El and his friends find it buried on Tars Lamora in Lost and Found, and they soon learn to engage the drive, which flings the ship thousands of light-years in moments.
The drive needs time to recharge between jumps. The Diviner wants the ship not for its engine but for the weapon hidden aboard, and the Protostar is destroyed at the end of the first season to stop it.