Mission 1.5 To Live and Die in the Name of Mog!

[Leonard T. Scott]

[Catrin and Kitty - Shallow Cave]

Catrin dropped to her knees beside Leo, holding him close and near to tears. Kitty stood near stunned by the display of emotion she just witnessed.

"Oi, Flyboy. This is no time to take a nap." Her words were at odds with her gentle tone as she brushed his hair off his forehead. She had suspected his feelings for a while now, but now it seemed much more real to her. "I'm not gonna carry you back to the others. Skinny as you are, you're still too heavy."

"Why would he do that... To protect us? He's a human." Kitty mused out loud, as much to herself as her counterpart. She walked over to the unconscious mirror Scott. "This one's not worth the oxygen his existence wastes." With that, she aimed a kick right to his core, fueled by past transgressions he had committed.

Catrin winced. "I couldn't tell you what experiences he lived to create the person he is today. But if deep down he is anything like my Leo, he has the capacity to be a great man."

[Shallow Cave - Scott Nega-Scott]

Scott woke up and stood. It took a little bit to regain his bearings. Once he realized what was going on, he heard a thunderous voice.

[Mog]

The titanic, disembodied, ego cared nothing for T'Lara's displeasure with the universe at him being given powers. He was MOG and thus was deserving.
"NEGATIVE!!!!!!!!" Roared the petulant booming voice of the cosmic being, anger now evident in excess.
"YOUR ACTIONS DO NOT PLEASE MOG! MOG MUST BE PLEASED! HE MUST HAVE HIS INFORMATION! HE MUST KNOW THE NATURE OF HUMANKIND!"

A great, round, pillar of pure lightning stuck the ground and before them stood a bizarre looking alien with an exposed brain and armor. It stood at least 20 feet tall. Around it shimmered and flickered a vaguely orange shield with a radius of about 10 feet.
"BEHOLD AND FEAR MOG! ENTERTAAAAAAAIN MOG!" He bellowed, though the voice was as before, booming from all places and shaking the very ground below them. The storm continued to rage.

"I, MOG, HAVE CHOSEN A FORM MOST HORRIFYING. YOURS IS THE JOB TO QUAKE! MOG IS THE ONE WHO WILL DEEEESTROY YOU! THIS IS NOT MOG'S TRUE FORM, AS MOG POSESSES A POWER BEYOND YOUR COMPREHENSION! THIS IS MEERLY A MANIFESTATION I HAVE DRAWN FROM YOUR COLLECTIVE MINDS TO SHOW YOU THE FUTILITY OF YOUR ACTIONS! NOW KNEEL BEFORE MOG AND ACCEPT YOUR FATE! KNEEEEEEL!

Looks like we need to get back to the crew. I can lead us there.

It was at this point LT had regained consciousness.

Bloody hell, let's get oot of here. Sounds like this Mog fella is the real enemy. I'll help for a bit.

LT realized it was useless to fight any further with his counterpart. This scrape had become something of a turning point in his life.

The motley crew made their way to the rest of the prime crew. They arrived in time for the finale.

[Constance Lafayette]

[Mog- Battlefield]
"UGLY IS FEAR. FEAR IS UGLY. EMBRACE YOUR DEMISE!"
Boomed the voice in all directions, though it felt more like it was being defensive than impressive.

T'Lara was not wrong- Mog, for all it's power, was not willing to accept that maybe mortals were not as violent as they were made out to be. It was clearly looking for a confirmation of its existing biases, not open to changing its mind.

The spear lodged in it's brain but no blood came. Just a static-filled discharge, not unlike a blown transformer spraying grey sparks. Race's attack had the same effect, though it seemed like it had some effect- just not a significant one. Like being slapped lightly, not like it had a spear though it's head. The spear dissolved moments later, like it was a glitched out element of a holodeck.

"MOG SEES NOW. MOG UNDERSTANDS. YOUR KIND IS KNOWN. KILL THAT WITH YOU FEAR. KILL THAT WHICH IS UNLIKE YOU. SPARE THAT WHICH IS THE SAME. MOG KNOWS THIS WELL."

From Mog's hand arched a pale orange series of sparks that repelled mirror Dyllan several feet- like a great force throwing him. There was an effortlessness about how Mog's avatar did this.

The pale orange shield around him did not permit Ash entry It was solid and caused a dull numbing sensation.

[Constance- Battlefield]
Constance's mind was running in high gear. This was... a puzzle. An ethical/moral one but... a puzzle.

"Mog... yours is a regrettable existence. All the power in the universe but wisdom not enough to see what is right in front of your face." She said calmly, almost like a mother patiently scolding a child.

"You view humanity, mortals, as a single defined being with moral and ethical qualities inherent to our beings. One as fluid as you should know we are each a changing experience. To put simply- we are each different. To judge all of us, be us from my universe of the mirror one, as a single entity is absurd. You must see this."

Mog's avatar ceased moving and looked at the Captain from the Prime universe.

"MOG IS SATISFIED. I HAVE SEE YOUR CRUELTY AND YOUR KINDNESS. I KNOW YOU TO BE UN-ALIKE. KNOW THAT MOG HAS JUDGED YOU INFERIOR. ONLY WHEN AN ENTIRE SPECIES IS ONE- LIKE MOG- CAN IT TRANSCEND TO GODHOOD. TREMBLE AND QUAKE MORTALS FOR YOUR DIVERSE UNIFICATION HAD MADE YOU WEAKER! BEGON!"

Booming laughter echoed across space and time, resonating with the souls of the crew members. A white light consumed them and, in time, the crew awakened on their respective ships 12 hours having passed but no one aboard who did not go down to the planet having memory of what transpired. Only those lucky few know the truth and what their reports show is far too strange to be believed. There never was a planet- at least not to anyone other than the Athenas. The ship simply reached a point in space, stopped for 12 hours, and then continued on its way. The sensor logs showed nothing unusual. The internal sensors showed everyone simply going about their business quietly. Some paperwork even got done- filed on time and in the right format.

However... there was one strange thing. It was not that the reports of the officers of the USS Athena were all unified in their description of the events but that the space where they said they observed the events now resonates, quietly, with a subspace sound message. It's hardly audible over the background noises but it's clearly audible. It's not always there but when it's there it is eerie.

It's laughter.

Booming, echoing, tinny, dramatic laughter.

This phenomenon has been dubbed, "The Voice of Mog".