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In the original Star Trek series, whenever the main engines (warp drive) broke down (which was pretty frequent) the Enterprise would only be able to move using "impulse engines" - a low power, sub-lightspeed manouvering system based on a small fusion ram/ion drive. By inference, someone described as "running on impilse engines" or "impulse power only" is either: 1. Very tired (a.k.a. 'running on empty') 2. Genuinely ill 3. (derog.) Slow and/or stupid.
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