Long Night

The Long Night occurred because of the disruption of interstellar travel caused by the Great Disconnect and the Xin Attack on Home 4 months later. It is theorized that the two events are related, but there is no conclusive proof.
Home was devestated, and were it not for further colonization in the system, the Resoni exploration effort in this part of space would have been completely destroyed, the civilization would have been reduced to pre-industrial error, if that.