The Truth of The Devil's Reef

The Entrance to Hell

Caydie felt the ship shake as it dropped from warp. When the lights flickered on, she let out a sigh of relief. She waited for the ship's navigation systems to reboot, working out where they ended up once they did. "We're just outside the reef. We'll need to be careful moving forward."
"How do you know we'll find her here?" Mute asked.
'I don't, but most sightings of The Sea of Names happen along the reef. Not to mention what she said to you."
"What do you mean?"
"You mentioned what she said shortly before leaving the station, that you were running from 'the ones who broke into hell.' I've never heard that phrase before."
Mute slumped back in the pilot's chair. "You think she was talking about the reef? What if it's another remnant of Earth?"
"I don't know but the name fits. The densest area of the nebula is often called the gate to hell. Switch to panoramic viewing."
Mute pressed a small button on the arm of the chair and the metal panels making up the floors, walls, and ceilings rotated to reveal blank screens.
The screens lined together seamlessly, flickering on to reveal a perfect three hundred and sixty degree view of the outside.
They saw a nebula ahead, a wall of gas stretching as far as the eye could see in all directions. Shadows danced in the gas, ships drifting along in the void.
Some were curved, others jagged, each having their own origin and design. They came in every shape and size, scattered throughout the infinite horizon.
Mute marveled for a moment, his attention drawn to Caydie's shallow breathing. He turned and saw how panicked she was, the view making it appear as if the ship they were in didn't even exist. "Here," he said, undoing the harness standing from the chair.
He helped her out of the chair and guided her along the glass floor. He rested her hands on the pilot's chair, and she eased herself down. "Maybe it'll be easier if you take control."
"Why would you want me in control?" She asked. "What if I mess up again?"
"You won't." Mute replied, sitting in the chair beside her. He raised the flight controls, and switched the ship off of autopilot. "Go on."

What is the devil's reef?

The Devil's Reef, my stomping ground… or there's if you're getting technical. It marks the border between the known and the unknown, the space beyond nearly unreachable without some serious warp technology. You can't go over it, under it, or around it. You certainly don't wanna go through it.
This place has a nasty reputation, mostly because of yours truly, but we exiles are merely the gatekeepers. We seek to keep others out, and more importantly, to keep what's inside locked within.
The ship graveyard has been around for nearly six hundred years, in Safeharbor time. Legends of demons and other nefarious entities grew with each ship claimed by the clouds, and some aren't that far off from the truth.

Legends

We first heard of the reef when we were rejected from Safeharbor. We found technology hidden in the vessels, untouched and free for the taking. We preyed on scavengers and pirates, making a name for ourselves in the process.
That's when we heard about the stories. Supernatural creatures in the void are but the tip of the iceberg. Some believed the occasional nuclear detonation was to blame. Electromagnetic pulses would render ships inert and leave them drifting. Perhaps the heat is to blame, vaporizing the crew and leaving a perfectly fine vessel in its wake.
We learned the truth of the legends, however. We caught them red-handed. We call them sin eaters. Their dreadnought hides in the cloud, a predator eager for prey. They enter enemy ships. They take the crew, and leave. It's not a good way to go.

The Morning Star Dreadnought

The Morning Star. It's fitting, isn't it? They won't communicate with other species. They failed to give us a name, so we forced our own upon it. It's a floating fortress worth miles long tendrils that facilitate boarding enemy vessels. Their technology is centered on defense. Their ships don't even have weapons.
We exiles studied them. We learned of their aversion to chlorine. It's deadly for them. They won't touch a body tainted with it. For these reasons, we modified our bodies to have it in abundance. We fill our ships with chlorine gas, a death sentence if they dare to come aboard.
We seek to keep it contained, but space is awfully big. Sometimes we chase them. Sometimes they chase us, and that's when things get scary. They aren't aggressive without reason. They're hiding something in the cloud, they're home. They take the bodies there. Hopefully soon, we can find it and put an end to their campaign across the stars before it truly begins.

The nebula

The Devil's reef is the densest region of the nebula. Nebulae tend to stretch out over light years. What you see planet side is only visible because of how far away it is. On the reef, it's so dense, so hot, that the vibrant colors are easy to see.
The reef stretches across 200 light years of space. Another 100 light years beyond that and the nebula fades away, the gas only existing in trace amounts. Traveling through the reef is suicide without a way to handle heat and radiation.
The gas is mainly composed of nitrogen, helium, hydrogen, and trace amounts of xenon, oxygen, and fluorine. Asteroids composed of cobalt, silicone, and even carbon float both within and just outside of the cloud, along with deposits of polonium and plutonium.

Invicta paused the recording when she heard a knock at the door. "Yeah?"
The door opened and a young woman entered, fully suited as if planning to leave the ship. "Captain, a wayfarer vessel dropped from warp in the area, The SVN December.
Gibraltar leapt from her lap as Invicta rolled off the bed and grabbed her suit. "And?"
"They're sending a signal on all frequencies. It's bound to attract The Morning Star."
"If it's still around, they could have gone around us by now." Invicta replied.
"Maybe, but there is something else. They're actively calling out The Sea Of Names."
Invicta paused and narrowed her eyes. "He did it," she whispered, darting out of her quarters. The woman stepped aside and followed behind. They rushed through the thick green fog that filled the vessel, rushing toward the bridge. When they entered, Invicta heard the transmission being sent over the intercom.
"This is Caydie Meridith Kines aboard The SVN December. I'm attempting to reach The Sea of Names…"
"Captain, we're detecting movement in the cloud. Too fast to be a derelict."
When she heard the words, Invicta ran to the communications panel. "December, this is Captain Invicta aboard The Sea of Names. Immediately alter course and rendezvous at the attached coordinates. Move fast, and veer away from the cloud, now. They're onto you."

"Captain, The Dreadnought will get to them before the message does. We're too far out."
Invicta closed her eyes and clenched her fists, pushing the anger down. "Of course we are. Time to test our new toys. We'll use The December as bait." She activated the ship's intercom system, her voice echoing through the halls so that all may hear, "All hands, condition 1. Load CVMs. Ram priming, brace for impact."
The alarms blared. Invicta sat in the captain's chair, resisting the urge to tap her feet and move her arms. Her body was restless, the telltale sign of higgstech activation, and it hit hard. She could feel the warping of gravitational fields, the metal bending against the strain.
"Calculations complete. We're ready for warp, captain. Missiles loaded and primed to fire once the power's back on."
Invicta nodded and felt the engines pulsed, a full burn to give them the velocity they needed. She held her breath as the lights flickered and died, shrouding the ship in darkness. The wait was always the worst part...