The Perseus Expansion

After the disastrous result of Operation: ABOMINATION, the Office of Naval Intelligence did their best to cover this up. However, they could not stop the intrigue that civilians had after many surviving ABOMINATION personnel returned from the Perseus Arm, subsequently leading to several civilian colonies springing up outside of the Orion Arm.
Much of the technology that made the expansion possible included upgraded slipspace drives that allowed for much quicker jumps through slipstream space.