If I do not phrase this question right, please forgive me in advance because I am a layman on the subject of physics, but a software engineer, nonetheless. I do understand many technical subjects. That said, I currently am writing a science fiction novel and an important thought occurred to me while describing the fiction's technology- could a theoretical Alcubierre drive actually allow for faster than light travel?
I ask this because in my reading on the subject I learned that both gravity and gravitational waves propagate at the speed of light and no faster. If this is true, then how can a ship ride a wave of distorted space-time that moves faster than light? I know that in a local frame of reference the ship technically would not move at all, but if you consider the "warp bubble" the ship is inside as moving at some velocity relative to an outside observer, then it seems pretty clear that the warp bubble could not surpass the speed of light.
Of course, this is a science fiction I am writing, so I have ample room for "bending the rules" with the theoretical, but I have great respect for science and literature, and want to get things right enough as to seem plausible.
