A/N Taken from Voy's own The Omega Directive. A what if ? Also taken

End of Space travel as we know it.

2528.

Captain Warren.

Captain Warren and his first officer stared out the viewer at the vista of space. It was hard to believe that only a short while ago, his ship was one of the fastest warp capable vessels known to Human science.

Now, he and his ship were marooned in space, separated from Federation held space by light years. A journey of a few days was now one of 20 years.

20 years !

He wasn't sure what caused it, until the computer screens started showing a sign.

The sign of Omega. The omega particle, the most dangerous element in the universe.

Archer 4.

One of the most heavily populated worlds in the federation and close to the warp highways, Archer 4 had enjoyed a wonderful influx of traffic.

No more. Space looked like it had been ripped apart at the seams, exposing subspace as blue energy underneath. They were trapped on the planet, separated by light years to the nearest planet.

The Romulan involvement.

Federation president Morgan Clark stood on the podium, " Ladies and gentlemen, it had been established that the recent stranding of many of our worlds in the federation and our starships, due to the Omega attacks has destroyed large sectors of subspace, rendering our warp engines useless."

The crowds started mumbling to themselves, but Clark kept quiet until the crowds became quiet once more.

" We have proof that it was the Romulans. For this reason, war has been declared. The former empire will pay for what it has done and we shall become stronger."

The crowd cheered at the short but impassioned speech.

Extract from The Omega War.

Starfleet's surprise of the Omega disaster was profound, especially since they didn't understand how the Romulans were able to mount such a campaign. For 6 years, research into ways of navigating the ravaged regions of subspace went in two directions.

One, some other form of warp propulsion, and two, a different propulsion system all together. Both were endorsed by the Federation council.

But Starfleet changed after the war, the traditional mandates of exploration and diplomacy shifted into isolationism and exploitation.

The old Starfleet had died.