AMALGAVERSE Crew #20 · You M02 · Mon 19 Oct · 12:01 p.m. ET Follow on X (opens in a new tab)

First Mission · Complete

The Ghost Ship

Captain Kirk’s crew answers a distress call from a freighter drifting cold inside a spatial anomaly. Every move after that was decided in the replies on X.

Prologue 21–22 Sep · mission 23 Sep – 16 Oct 2026 · five acts · 25 decisions, every one made in the replies · Complete

Captain’s Log · Posted 22 Sep 2026

Dropping out of warp

Captain's Log - Stargate Unknown: I have commanded starships through Klingon ambushes, Romulan incursions across the Neutral Zone, and temporal anomalies that would unsettle lesser officers, but none of it prepared me for this. The Enterprise-D has been refitted, re-crewed with the finest officers from across multiple realities, and given a new mission: explore this strange new universe, and find a way to get everyone home.

The hum of the warp core fades as the Enterprise-D drops out of warp, and the star field ahead resolves from streaking lights into cold, fixed points. Ops reports four near-simultaneous contacts within the first ninety seconds of arrival.

Captain James T. Kirk, as written by Joseph Mallozzi · Read the post on X (opens in a new tab)

Still: the Enterprise-D in black space, from Joseph Mallozzi's post
EXT · Alt. Enterprise-D

Warp → 0
Contacts 4
Arrival + 90 s

Ops · Four contacts · 22 Sep 2026

Four crises. One ship. No back-up.

The bridge is dead quiet.

Put a contact on the main viewer.

Contact oneChosen · “surprisingly close”

The Ghost Ship

BRG 227 MK 14 · ~350,000 km · port bow

A subspace signal, heavily degraded, cycling on the Federation emergency frequency. Long-range sensors show the vessel drifting cold: no running lights, no drive signature, no signs of life.

Still: the derelict freighter adrift, its masts and superstructure dark against the stars
Sensor still

Contact twoNot chosen

The Heist

Encrypted Ferengi commercial channel · bearing not logged

Read the transmission · no visual, text only

Ops partially decodes a shadow auction for Artifact Omicron-8. Its energy signature reads, partially and imperfectly, like an illicit subspace weapon outlawed under the Khitomer Accords.

Contact threeNot chosen

The Delivery

Coordinates 188 mark 44 · 72 hours

Read the transmission · no visual, text only

Starfleet priority, addressed to Captain Kirk: extract intelligence broker Harven Zax from a disabled Vespian cruiser. He is wanted by the Romulans, the Orion Syndicate and a Klingon Great House.

Contact fourNot chosen

The Fracture

Kirin Station Outpost Gamma-3 · crew of 23 · bearing not logged

Read the transmission · no visual, text only

No subspace comm traffic. The last status report is sixty-three hours old, the emergency beacon is not active, and there is no debris field. Simply... silence.

Followers voted in the replies. While the vote was still running, the author called it “surprisingly close.”

Choose!

And cue our Opening Theme...

Joseph Mallozzi, 22 Sep 2026

THE AMALGAVERSE

First Mission: The Ghost Ship

Story by Joseph Mallozzi

Previously On Amalgaverse…

The mission, act by act

Captain’s Log, supplemental. We've answered a distress call at the coordinates flagged by our long-range sensors, and found a ship gone silent. Automated beacon still cycling, running lights dark, and no one responding to our hails.Captain Kirk · 23 Sep 2026

Prologue

21–22 Sep1 decision

You wake in an alternate universe, the 20th crew member of the Alt. Enterprise-D, and Captain Kirk’s first log reports four contacts. The crew answers the distress call.

1 decision · what the replies chose
  1. 21 SepJoin the crew?Yes. The adventure beginsXBlog
  2. 22 SepWhich contact first?The Ghost Ship (“surprisingly close”)XBlog

Act One

23–27 Sep5 decisions

Still: the puddle jumper flying into the freighter’s open hangar bay, seen from inside, stars beyond the doors
Hangar cam · Act One
Still: a hulking utility robot in a corridor
TX 27.09

Following Sheppard’s plan, O’Neill flies the puddle jumper into the freighter’s open hangar. The away team (O’Neill, Daniel Jackson, Rommie and McKay) leaves the jammed bay doors open, goes in through an interior airlock and heads for a fading containment field. A hulking utility robot blocks the way. Rommie overrides it.

5 decisions · what the replies chose
  1. 23 SepHow do you board?The puddle jumper into the hangar bay (Sheppard’s plan)XBlog
  2. 24 SepWho’s on the away team?O’Neill, Daniel Jackson, Rommie, McKayXBlog
  3. 25 SepThe bay doors are jammed open?Leave them open, use the interior airlockXBlog
  4. 26 SepWhere first?The fading containment fieldXBlog
  5. 27 SepA utility robot advances?Rommie overrides itXBlog
[END OF ACT ONE]

Act Two

28 Sep – 1 Oct4 decisions

Still: a dark corridor with a gap torn in the deck
TX 29.09 · Signal 640×360

They seal up and cross a section open to space. Rommie makes the leap across a ten-to-twelve-foot gap in the deck, and a stuck door gets “just a smidge” of C4. Behind it: an android charging in a containment field. You let the cycle finish.

4 decisions · what the replies chose
  1. 28 SepThe section open to vacuum?Seal up and crossXBlog
  2. 29 SepWho jumps the gap?RommieXBlog
  3. 30 SepThe stuck door?Blow it with C4XBlog
  4. 1 OctThe android in the field?Let the cycle finishXBlog
[END OF ACT TWO]

Act Three

2–6 Oct5 decisions

Still: Maia, a blue-skinned android, inside a glowing containment field
TX 02.10 · Signal 640×489

The android wakes: Maia 3352, caretaker of the freighter Waldorf Astoria. Daniel talks, Maia scans Rommie, and a deal is struck: bridge access for help hunting an intruder. On the bridge, the rift’s harmonics match the crew’s own crossings into this universe, a first clue to the way home. The team splits.

5 decisions · what the replies chose
  1. 2 OctMaia wakes?Let Daniel talkXBlog
  2. 3 OctLet her interface with Rommie?YesXBlog
  3. 4 OctBridge access for help hunting the intruder?Accept the dealXBlog
  4. 5 OctA radiation-leak detour?Hold, and send Rommie to checkXBlog
  5. 6 OctRift data, a life sign, or the core?Split the teamXBlog
[END OF ACT THREE]

Act Four

7–11 Oct5 decisions

Still: a red warning console counting down to core breach
TX 08.10 · Core breach
Still: Rhea, an injured woman sitting in a corridor
TX 09.10

The “spiders” on the core are repair drones, but venting buys only about 42 minutes before breach. Jack and Daniel find Rhea, an injured survivor who says Maia killed the crew. They hide her. Then a scavenger ship sends a boarding party; Daniel tries to warn them, and a firefight breaks out.

5 decisions · what the replies chose
  1. 7 OctSpider machines on the core?Trust MaiaXBlog
  2. 8 OctMcKay: the hangar or the bridge?Back Maia up on the bridgeXBlog
  3. 9 OctRhea says Maia killed the crew?Hide her (a “tight” vote)XBlog
  4. 10 OctA scavenger ship arrives?Kirk hails them, orders the shuttle recalled, readies weaponsXBlog
  5. 11 OctThe boarding party?Talk to themXBlog
[END OF ACT FOUR]

Act Five

12–16 Oct5 decisions

Still: the atemporal entity, a glowing blue-violet tangle of tendrils in space
TX 13.10 · Unresolved signature

Maia’s spider drones rout the mercenaries, and Rhea has vanished. Maia comes along, the cloaked jumper evades the atemporal entity, the Waldorf Astoria explodes, and Kirk returns fire. Back aboard, Carter finds the entity’s trace is a deliberate lattice. Maia joins the crew, in Engineering.

“There was a time when I too was an outsider of dubious origin.”Teal’c, on asking Maia to stay · 15 Oct 2026
5 decisions · what the replies chose · 1 not yet reported
  1. 12 OctMaia offers to stay behind?Convince her to comeXBlog
  2. 13 OctThe entity reaches for the jumper?Cloak and evadeXBlog
  3. 14 OctThe scavengers open fire?Return fireXBlog
  4. 15 OctMaia’s future?Ask her to join the crewXBlog
  5. 16 OctThe wind-down?Result not yet reported Not reportedXBlog

Tag scene · The wind-down · 16 Oct 2026

The last vote of Mission 01

Result not yet reported.

With your first mission under your belt, it’s time to unwind. What would you like to do?

  1. A)Visit a 1920s Parisian cafe on the holodeck with Garak, Daniel, and Dr. Fraiser.
  2. B)Have a few drinks and take in the view at Ten Forward with Kirk, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, and Maybourne.
  3. C)Relax in the arboretum with a pot of tea and Teal’c, Aeryn Sun, and G’Kar.
  4. D)Play poker with O’Neill, Odo, Data, and Sheppard.

Joseph Mallozzi · 16 Oct 2026 · See the post (opens in a new tab)

[END OF FIRST MISSION: THE GHOST SHIP]

Where we left off · Carter’s lab · 15 Oct 2026

The lattice

But when she isolated it, it wasn’t the random noise she was expecting. It was structured, a lattice, intricate and deliberate. … Only that it’s an intriguing first piece to a much larger puzzle.Carter’s lab · “Homecoming” · 15 Oct 2026

Here, Mission 01 is drawn the same way: 25 decisions as one lattice, lit in your colour from the moment you said yes to the last choice. It’s our visual echo of Carter’s finding, not canon.

The road home is long. We have taken the first step upon it, and we are not taking it alone.Captain’s Log – Stardate Unknown · 16 Oct 2026

Mission debrief · 17 Oct 2026

Paths not taken

“This adventure turned out to be a lot more fun, and a lot more work, than I’d originally envisioned.”Joseph Mallozzi · Mission Debrief
  • 26 SepFollow the life sign instead of the containment field, and the away team meets Rhea first. She would likely have talked you out of waking Maia.
  • 30 SepThe C4 was a last-minute option he expected to lose. Walk the hull instead, and a micrometeoroid nearly kills Daniel.
  • 9 OctBeam Rhea aboard the Enterprise, and Act Five unfolds very differently.
  • MaiaShe was originally meant to go down with the ship.
“It’s always incredibly satisfying when an unexpected narrative element clicks into place that late in the game.”Joseph Mallozzi · Mission Debrief · Read it on X (opens in a new tab) · Read it on his blog (opens in a new tab)

He was talking about the spider drones: written as background, they saved Jack and Daniel from the scavengers at the top of Act Five.

Next time · Mission 02

Mon 19 Oct · 12:01 p.m. ET—

Title not yet revealed. The story stops at 12:01 p.m. ET and waits for your reply.

“Meanwhile, don’t forget to turn on notifications.”Joseph Mallozzi · Mission Debrief · 17 Oct 2026

Season one is planned as 20 missions: ten, a brief hiatus, then ten more. Mission 01 is complete; Mission 02 is next.

M01 · CompleteM02 · Mon 19 OctSeason one · 20 planned

Follow on X (opens in a new tab)Next mission countdown →

And cue Closing Theme…

Joseph Mallozzi · 16 Oct 2026