"There's a substance in our universe called Element Zero that releases dark energy when channeled through an electrical current. Manipulation of that creates a mass effect field. The fields can increase and decrease the mass of space-time, letting space-faring ships in my universe hit FTL," he paused to clarify, just in case, though he figured Skywalker knew what he meant. "Faster than light. The fields themselves have a lot of other uses, but the military takes the most advantage of the mobility enhancement. Certain people who were exposed to Element Zero in utero, biotics, have the ability to manipulate self-generated mass effect fields."
There was another pause before he added with a laugh. "My comm specialist had a toothbrush that was powered by mass effect fields. Apparently it was very, very expensive."