In the Odyssey One series early attempts to achieve a working Alcubierre drive failed to achieve a full warp field, but managed to create a field that distorted the mass of anything within. They used it to make ships "lighter" and therefore make existing propulsion methods far more effective. This allowed a large ship with a crew of around 300 to reach the heliopause in about 3 days. Anything within the field also did not feel the greater affects of physics. There is a passage that explains how the forces scaled in both directions.
Not sure if any of that is actually scientific or just sudosciencepseudoscience, but it was a pretty great story mechanic. They use that particular technology to also make fighters a viable space combat tool as they can now move with more versatility, without killing the pilot from excessive G-forces. They also used it to make ridiculously effective kenetickinetic missiles, basically the field reduced mass to accelerate the missile to relativistic speeds, then at the last moment the field would reverse, increasing mass to several times what it actually is. The resulting kinetic impact made nukes look like pee shooters.
Again, sounds cool, no idea if realistic.
