Time To Go Home
Posted on 18 Oct 2018 @ 10:34am by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant JG Charles Carmichael & Ensign Quinn Mackie & Petty Officer 2nd Class Mofrich Torg & Commander Thiago Teixeira & Commander Terry Walsh & Commander Jayla Kij & Lieutenant Commander Arjin Djinx & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Gemma Alexander & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Danyl Adan & Lieutenant JG Jazmin Parks & Staff Warrant Officer William Griffin & Senior Chief Petty Officer Alexander Rylan & Lieutenant Lucas Abrams M.D. & Lieutenant JG Catherine Cooper & Lieutenant JG Ian Beckett & Lieutenant JG Daniella Blake & Ensign Kelly Khan & Ensign Aurilia Moretti & Lieutenant JG Shay Mitchell & Ensign Aidan Crehan & Master Chief Petty Officer Mila Rasputin
5,379 words; about a 27 minute read
Mission:
Fractured
Location: USS Black Hawk, Various
Timeline: MD1 || 1300 hours
===[Time Zone Four]===
Ensign Quinn Mackie stood alone in Deck Twenty-Four. Like most of the crew, he'd only been aboard a few months, and none of them had had nearly enough time to fully understand and appreciate the Century-class starship. With three quarters of the crew dead, and the other quarter still alive, the gargantuan vessel felt emptier and larger than ever before.
Quinn shook his head, reminding himself that everyone was really alive, just in their own respective sections of time. The corpses all around them were merely echoes of the living just waiting for Quinn to do his part. Around the antimatter pods were three nucleonic particle generators, each one burned out from use in their previous time frames. Each one would do their part when they were supposed to, just as Quinn's would when he was finished. As he used a padd to wirelessly input the final settings, Quinn looked up at the antimatter pods. He knew the quantum filaments were anchored in here, he just couldn't see them. Thankfully, he'd managed to avoid them, and he'd do his best to stay out of their way once this was done.
In just a few short minutes, he'd be done. Quinn was under orders to activate the device immediately. He just hoped everyone else was ready.
Jazmin followed the directions on her PADD. As she got closer to where she was when this nightmare happened, the PADD pinged louder and the two dots on the screen grew closer together. Finally she was there and she took a deep breath.
=/\= "Parks to Road. I'm in position." =/\=
Shay made her way into the Security Complex and looked around. There was going to be a bit of clean up in their future, but it wouldn't be the first time, and likely wouldn't be the last, either. It didn't take long before she was back in her original position, waiting for things to get back to normal.
Cooper made her way back to her position near the security complex. Studying the PADD she was holding carefully, not wanting to be a millimeter off. She knew merging bodies and such happened often as was joked about previously but had no real desire to test that theory.
=/\="Cooper to Road, I am in position."=/\= She said double checking her positioning, drawing to a stop.
Aidan had been in a science lab when he woke up. Once back in position, he notified Road that he was set and waiting.
Mila left the bridge and headed back to Administration and began to pick up the fallen PADDs and everything that littered the area, then stopped. If they were going back to their own time, there would be no need to do any of that. She sighed and headed into her office and waited for the fan to hit the shit.
Once the 'ready' signals stopped coming in from crew, Abbey- who had climbed back into the turbolift she'd been in when everything fell apart- tapped her com-badge. "Road to all hands," she said. "This is it. If anybody's not ready, report now." She gave it several seconds, but no reply came. "All right," she said. "Mackie, at your leisure."
"Aye, Captain," replied Ensign Mackie over the comm. Hopefully, this would be the last time he'd have to address one of the ship's doctors as Captain. And, hopefully, he'd be seeing his own better half soon. He started to make his way back to his own starting point. Once there, he could activate his generators remotely.
Jazmin fidgeted as she waited. She wondered if she'd get thrown to the deck again when it happened. She was still favoring a bruised hip from where she hit the deck when this all happened and wasn't looking forward to another fight with the deck. She kept herself loose, just in case. Hopefully, though, there would be a seamless transition.
"Oh yeah," she muttered to herself, "you'll get to keep others safe as they push the edge of the final frontier. If I ever see that recruiter again, I'll have words with him."
===[Time Zone Three]===
Kelly headed back to her quarters and was greeted by Gizmo who looked like he had seen things and settled down on the bed to scritch the little orange furball. "I really hope Quinn is okay," she said even though the kitten had no idea what was going on. He was just happy to get pets.
Lucas was back in sickbay with the other five personnel who were stuck in this time zone with him. "Everyone in your original position. This should all be over soon," he ordered, making his way to his spot. If something like this never happens again, I'll be grateful. Now, just like the others, he planned to wait.
Back in the conference room, Harvey said in his chair at the head of the table. While he awaited Lieutenant O'Malley's report, he slowly reached up and touched the damp compress on his head. As soon as this was through, he had every intention of reporting to sickbay for a real checkup. Whatever had fueled him these last few hours seemed to be wearing off as he sat and simply waited. For now, he looked at both Commander Teixeira and Lieutenant Commander Walsh. "Ready for this to be over?" he asked.
Terry settled back into his chair and leaned back. "I'm very ready for this to be over, Captain. These time things drive me crazy. Give me an enemy at zero-two-four mark five six and I can take him out. But time and science, science and time...I'm just glad there are others around who are strong in that area."
"Temporal incursions are never fun," Thiago agreed. "I've gone my whole career without having a run in with the Department of Temporal Investigations, though I suspect that streak is going to end now."
The comm system chimed. "O'Malley to Captain Geisler. We're all set up and ready to go!"
Harvey gripped his armrests, having one last chance to stop this whole crazy plan. In the last couple of hours, he had thought about many different ideas and possible ways of getting back, but none of them compared to the one they were about to embark on. All he could do was pray that this would work. The Captain tapped his badge. "Acknowledged, O'Malley. Fire it up."
===[Time Zone Two]===
Once they were back on the ship after disabling the enemy ship, Aurilia heard the orders to report to where she had been before they got sent into other time periods. She removed her flight uniform and headed back to the diagnostic console she had been working on before things went sideways.
Sickbay was nearly deserted by the time Dani made her way inside. It had such an eerie vibe to it, and now the petite blonde was hoping this would all be over soon. She definitely couldn't wait for things to get back to normal, or whatever their version of normal was going to be after this over. Taking a deep breath, the nurse made her way over to the biobed where she was standing when things went sideways.
Archer carefully but swiftly stowed her craft and securing her flight suit, trying to ignore the body of a nearby crewmate she made her way back to next to her craft where she'd woken up and really hoped the egg heads were right about this.
Griffin looked up from the nucleonic particle generator and frowned. He had it set up as the message in the antimatter had described, all the settings matched what was requested exactly. He knew that he had built a nucleonic particle generator, but had no idea how exactly the damn thing was going to help, aside from the fact that it was supposed to reverse the quantum flux of the antimatter and bump all the timezones into alignment, somehow.
Remembering exactly where you were when disaster struck was a bit like remembering your birthday- easy peasy. And so it was that Jayla found herself back in her office with her feet up on the desk. She'd have loved her cup of coffee back, but that was impossible. Oh, well, you couldn't have it all, could you? "Kij to all crew," she said after tapping her com-badge. "Is everyone in position?"
"Torg here," came the reply from the intel analyst. "In position and ready."
"Griffin here," followed the gruff sounding engineer, "The particle generator is ready, give the word ma'am."
"In position," Alex said. "Ready when you are."
"Moretti here," Aurilia reported in. "Ready."
After recieving literally dozens of afirmative responses on top of each other, Jayla literally facepalmed. "Let's try that a different way," she said. "Is anybody not ready?" Only a light snicker met that and Jayla couldn't reign in the grin that threatened the corners of her mouth. "Right then," she said, the grin evident in her voice. "Mister Griffin, if you please."
"Yes ma'am," Griffin grinned at the doctor over the comm and entered the command sequence to bring the nucleonic particle generator online. The thing hummed into life and Griffin watched the readings as it began to bombard the antimatter with nucleonic particles. "Generator is online and everything looks good."
===[Time Zone One]===
Joey was back in the conference room in the same place she was in when all of this happened. Her attention went to the floor directly in front of her. Would Harvey appear there if this worked? If... A huge part of her had hopes this was going to work, but there was still a very small part of her that was skeptical. Thankfully, the more positive side of things overruled it. The family would be back together again... she hoped. This is it. We're either moments away from having everyone together again... or certain death.
Camila entered the conference room and gave Joey a smile. "I'm really hoping this works because I have no desire to die on this ship. I didn't see my body anywhere, though. Did you?"
"No, but I doubt we would see them here. The others probably came across them, though," the Intel Chief said, bringing a hand to her swollen abdomen. If this worked, she would have something major to worry about. Her unborn children being exposed to theta radiation.
"Perhaps it would be best if I did just die," the blonde Security Chief mumbled to herself for a moment before she saw that Joey was clearly worried about her unborn children. "They'll be fine, Joey. You'll get to see Captain Geisler again and everything will be okay."
"You don't know that for sure, Camila," Joey said just above a whisper. She didn't know it for sure, either. Just like her, her unborn children were both exposed to lethal levels of theta radiation, and while she'd been feeling them move around constantly was likely a good sign, they weren't fully developed like she was. A thorough exam was definitely going to take place the second she was able to get to sickbay.
Camila laid a hand on Joey's shoulder. "Have faith, Joey," she said but wished she had faith in herself. "After everything that's happened since you've come aboard, you should know by now that it always works out in the end."
Joey wanted to sit down, but knew that she couldn't. In order for this to work, she needed to stay where she was. "It doesn't always work out in the end, Camila," she said, turning to look toward the Security Chief. "We're talking about theta radiation, and little people who are still developing being exposed to it. Why do things like this keep happening? What did this crew do in whatever past lives we lived do to deserve the hell we've been through?"
"I couldn't tell you," the omber haired woman said with a sigh. "If I knew, I'd be an Admiral and giving orders instead of taking them and I wouldn't feel hollow inside."
The taller woman shook her head. She wasn't actually expecting a straight answer to those questions. "No one can tell me, but if this works, the crew will be back together soon enough."
"We will and then we can get out of here," Camila said.
Down below in engineering, Kemm stood over the pool table, which was where he was when this all went down. His generator had been installed and remained in standby mode for the Kelpian to remotely activate it. He'd been watching the internal sensors as well, waiting for everyone to get into position. Once that happened, he pressed a button on the pool table. Five decks below, next to the antimatter generator, his nucleonic particle generator fired up and began to bombard the antimatter.
The Kelpian stood and waited. His part was done. Now he just needed his counterparts in the future to do the same.
Arjin had helped Lieutenant Kemm with the preparations of the bombarding that would take place. He now needed to be back at the space he was when this all started. So he walked towards the conference room. As he entered, he noticed Lieutenants Geisler and Di Pasquale were already there. "Ready to be reunited with the rest of the crew?", he asked.
"More than ready," Camila told the Trill Science officer.
"Yes," was all Joey said. Her mind was on other things at the moment, distracting her from what was about to take place, but wasn't that a good thing considering there was a possibility that this might not work? And what if it didn't? Neither of her babies would have a chance at living. Two innocent little beings... depending on her for their safety. Her chest tightened as panic began to set in. Breathing became difficult, which prompted her to grip the back of the nearest chair. Thankfully, she didn't even need to move as it was right within her reach. The Intel Chief wondered if she could make to a runabout and get off of the ship fast enough. At least then, her babies would have a better chance at surviving. Or would they?
This whole thing sounded like another crazy Starfleet stunt to Ian. But many of those had paid off in the past. So who knew. As the Chief Transport Operator arrived back at his original location, he tapped his combadge, =/\="Beckett to Bridge, all set on my end."=/\= He tried his best to get back into the exact spot as best as possible. Maybe if it did mess up, he'd be a little taller. That's be nice.
Arjin smiled back and went forward to take his place at the spot he remembered waking up again. Outwardly he remained calm, but inside his heart was beating on the tones of a jungle drum. One way or another, everything would be over soon.
Lieutenant Adan hurried back to the corridor he had found himself when he first awoke. He knew the science was sound as well as the mechanics. It would confuse many, but they had to return towhere they had been at at the moment time shifted. His stomach was queasy. The symbiant was calm but he was not. He hoped it would all work out. As a Trill, he had faced death many different times. Each time was different too. If he died this time, however, he might not remember it. That was a little disconcerting for him.
===[Time Zone Four]===
The turbolifts were working, yet Quinn chose to take the Jeffries Tubes from Deck 24 to Deck 13. All the while, he'd been thinking of alternatives, backups, just in case this grand experiment came crashing down all around them. Best case, they got to go home. Worst case, they'd dislodge the filaments and render the antimatter inert and be stuck there forever. If they really did get stranded, Quinn didn't know what he'd do other than do his best to figure out where Kelly was and get back to her. Of course, there were other alternatives to consider. Maybe he should take a look and see if Carmichael left anything behind. There was still a mission to finish, and he couldn't just let it end this way.
He approached the junction where he'd been performing maintenance on an EPS tap. Quinn stood for a moment, trying to remember the exact position where he was kneeling and then got knocked around when the filaments collided with the ship. He looked at the area around him, wondering where exactly he was when he got picked up and tumbled. Finally, after what seemed like minutes of debate, he knelt down exactly where he was when it all started. He held up the padd he carried, looking at the excellently programed big red button. "All right everyone," he mumbled. "Here we go."
Quinn pressed the button and waited.
Elsewhere on the ship, at the very front of Deck Eleven, Ensign T'Vor stood in his quarters, quietly contemplating what was about to happen. He felt the deckplates start to rattle, but nothing that would knock an individual off their footing. Outside his viewport, he could see the nebula clearly, along with a purple wisp. He rasied an eyebrow as the wisp began to move, swinging quickly towards the ship. He didn't have much time to react before it passed through the hull. When it left T'Vor's quarters, T'Vor was nowhere to be seen.
In Administration, Mila suddenly clutched her desk as everything seemed to dissolve and reform but in reverse of what she had experienced when the ship first got displaced in time. The air seemed to get fresher, the dust vanished and the smell was once more became clean and sanitary once more. She realized she was now hungry, then a wave of nausea hit her and she was nearly sick but managed to hold it in.
Being in a turbolift, Abbey didn't actually see what was coming as it entered behind her. But, she she did feel it. It was an unnerving sensation that she couldn't decide if it was flying or standing still. Eventually, she decided it was fun and couldn't resist the "woohoo!" that burst from her throat.
Aidan had been through a time and space distortion before, while conscious. He hoped this one would be less traumatic than being ripped from the Nexus and the joy that had enveloped him there. The El-Aurian went back to the spot where he'd woken up and laid down, waiting.
A tingly feeling started lightly as Cooper stood in her place. Then it increased feeling a bit like pins and needles as the world shifted around her, time seemed to work in reverse as things brightened, looked newer. When it stopped Cooper leaned against a bulkhead as she was hit with an attack of vertigo.
===[Time Zone Three]===
The device had been activated, but not much had happened other than the deckplates softly rattling. Harvey had to resist the urge to stand and instead turned to look out the rear windows. The nebula was almost hypnotic, swirling blues and purples. If it weren't for the head injury, he might have allowed himself to fall asleep just by staring into the great void. He couldn't, however, allow that to happen. Not until this was proven to work and that the ship was in the clear.
A strange sensation shot up his spine. His nerves felt like each one was being pierced by nails and razors. Purple light enveloped him, followed by darkness. Strange sensations remained. Harvey might not be able to see, but he knew he was still alive.
Oooh, this is tingly. Like when your leg has fallen asleep and you then you move it, thought the brawny Squadron Commander. He wondered if it was the same for everyone else or if their experiences were different. Sure would make for some interesting conversation after the fact. If anyone ever wanted to talk about this whole experience outside of a counselor's office, that is.
In her quarters, Kelly suddenly felt like a glass of water when it was drank. Everything seemed to turn inside out in her head which was one of the most disturbing sensations she could now say she ever had. It certainly beat Romulan Ale but was nowhere near as pleasant. Time seemed to twist before her eyes and she could almost swear that she saw a smile before it faded out again and she gave a quiet eep and hoped it wasn't the end of all time as she knew it.
===[Time Zone Two]===
On the Flight Deck, Aurilia clutched at the bench she had been standing near and nearly fell as she experienced what was the wildest hallucination of her life. Everything seemed to go into flux and she felt like she was being transported, but no single part of her was touching any other part. Is this how it ends? she wondered.
Oddly enough, for reasons she couldn't have explained, Jayla wouldn't remember any of the transition. All she knew was that the deck plates were rumbling, the ship was shaking, and then... nothing. Just nothing. At first, she was afraid that she may have been left behind, but then she realized that she was only asleep. How curious.
"Holy sh..." Griffin managed as the antimatter being bombarded by the nucleonic particles suddenly began to glow bright white. He had time to think that being at the focal-point of an antimatter explosion wasn't the worst way to go, and then there was a flash. He had the sensation of twisting, like he'd been wrung out by some cosmic hands, and then somehow flying through nothing with all the parts of his body there, but weirdly disconnected from his mind, and then there was darkness.
Gemma lost track of everything the world shifted in a bright light, for some reason her entire body hurt as the universe shifted within her and around her.
===[Time Zone One]===
Camila looked at the other officers in the conference room as the signal was given. "Here's hoping to see everyone soon," she said.
As the procedure was set in motion, it was as if Arjin was floating in a hot tub. Softly rocking back and forth in a total darkness. He knew it would only be a few seconds, but it seemed like minutes to him. As he opened his eyes, the first thing he realised was that he was alive and that he was looking at the captain's face. His eyes lit and he could not supress a smile. They were back.
The deckplates began to rattle and the lights flickered. The room never plunged into darkness, yet it was enough to make any horror enthusiast squirm. The flickering, however, could not stop anyone from seeing a wave of purple energy wash through part of the room, narrowly missing those seated in the room, but instead passing through chairs that would have otherwise been occupied.
When the wave of energy left the room, three of the chairs suddenly became occupied. At the head of the table, Captain Geisler instinctively grabbed the edges of the table, as if he were attempted to stop himself from being disoriented. Looking up as the lights stopped flickering, he saw several familiar faces, including Joey's. His eyes watered, and while he could not control a happy smile, he did control his composure. Before he could celebrate, there was several critical matters to attend to. Holding both hands up to keep everyone seated, he boldly called out, "Computer, how many lifesigns are aboard the Black Hawk?"
A quick series of beeps preceded a generated response: "Seven hundred and forty-two."
Harvey's heart nearly sank. They'd entered the zone with seven hundred and eighty souls aboard. They'd lost three during the transition, and now the reaper had claimed another thirty-five. Two of them he could assume were Lieutenant Hawthorn and Chief Stephens. Both were in the meeting when they'd hit the filaments. They weren't with the senior staff now.
But Harvey could not mourn yet. He was responsible for the remaining souls. Not a single one could be lost. "Geisler to Engineering," he said with a tap of his combadge. "Please tell me you have good news about the antimatter."
"Sir," Griffin responded after a moment's hesitation, he had no idea where Reggie had gotten himself to, "this is Griffin, the antimatter looks like it's stabilized, no trace of contaminant."
Joey was beyond grateful to see Harvey sitting at the head of the table in his usual spot, but professionalism kept her where she was even if she did want to embrace him. Hell, she wanted to embrace the entire crew, but there wasn't time for that right now. Eventually, she would have the chance to welcome them all back, though, and mourn those they'd lost.
Harvey smiled, thankful to have a bit of good news in the midst of this troubling day. "Excellent, Mister Griffin. Bring the warp core and main power online."
"Aye sir," Griffin grumbled to the comm, then turned to the island. Engineering was short staffed and he felt very odd - as if he was stepping on toes. But needs must and he pushed ahead anyway. "You!" He gestured to a likely crewman, "set the antimatter injectors to standby and release the magnetic constrictors to initialize mode. Crewman," he barked at another body, "watch the coolant pressure." He let his hands dance over the controls as he brought the ship's heart back to life.
The beauty of Starfleet design principles was that a warp core from a fighter was essentially the same design as the core of the Black Hawk, the only difference was the size and power. It only took him a few moments, with the help of the few crewmen that were in engineering, to bring the warp core online, Main power followed quickly afterward as fresh, hot plasma surged through the 'Hawk's veins.
The Captain then turned to his first officer. "Commander Teixeira, get us the hell out of this nebula. Make sure we don't hit anything on the way out."
Teixeira nodded his confirmation before standing to exit to the bridge and, hopefully, get the ship to safety.
Harvey looked around the room to the staff that remained. "I want full assessment reports as soon as possible, but first have everyone submit to sickbay for radiation treatments. Dismissed."
With a nod, Camila got up and headed out.
Terry got up and left the room. He was sure that there was a lot to find out about from the other Squadron personnel. And he expected that to take quite a bit.
Joey remained where she was, watching as the others began to file out. She would eventually depart, but there was something... it rather someone preventing her from doing that right now. That someone happened to be sitting at the head of the table right now, and soon, she'd have the chance to make sure he was real and not something her mind conjured up.
Arjin sighed and left with a nodd towards both the Captain and his wife. He knew how much she had missed him and he was glad they would have time to reunite.
===[Deck 14]===
Jazmin, as ready as she was for the transition, still found herself on her backside and against the corridor wall. Her eyes had been closed and she was hesitant to open them. But, she found her nerve and opened them slowly. "God, I hope this was the result of me hitting my head." She knew it wasn't and climbed to her feet.
"Computer, what is the current date? Also, location of Lieutenant Di Pasquale."
The computer buzzed in reply. "The current stardate is 66094.6. Lieutenant Di Pasquale is in the Conference Room."
Jazmin leaned against the wall feeling as though every last bit of energy she possessed had just left her. She closed her eyes and rested her head on her arm.
"One...two...three...four...five." She took a deep breath and then stood upright. Time for feeling sorry for herself was over.
=/\="Parks to Di Pasquale. Chief, it seems that it's over. Everything okay on your end?"=/\=
=^=Affirmative, Parks,=^= Camila responded. =^=I'll be collecting reports and then heading to sickbay for the radiation treatment.=^=
=/\= "Roger that, Chief. I'm glad to hear your voice. I'll bring my preliminary report your way."
Lieutenant Adan awoke with a start. He was located in one of the corridors of the Black Hawk, the one he first found himself in when everything went wrong. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs from it. He was alive. It had worked. Smarting slightly, he slapped at his commbadge.
"Adan to bridge. Anyone?"
"We hear you, lieutenant," a voice called back over the comms. "Head for sickbay for radiation treatment."
===[Sick Bay]===
With a start so sudden that it knocked Jayla out of her chair, she awoke. So she really had been sleeping. That was strange.
But, she'd worry about that later. Right now, she wanted to make sure her crew were all right. She hurried into Main Sick Bay to see many doctors, nurses, and technicians picking themselves off the floor. Nurse Rigby was holding a hand over a gash in her forehead and Jayla motioned her over. "Kij to all Medical personnel," she said after a tap of her combadge. "Report to Sick Bay at once."
She glanced around, subconsciously looking for Alex, but turned back to Rigby to fix the cut on her forehead so she could be of use to them. "How are you feeling?" she asked the petite nurse.
"As well as can be expected," answered Rigby. "How about you?"
"I'm okay," answered Jayla, glancing around again as she waved the dermal regenerator over the cut.
"I'm sure he's okay,"Rigby said.
"What?" replied Jayla. "Who?"
"I've seen the way you look at him, Jayla," replied Rigby. "And I've seen the way he looks at you."
Jayla groaned. "There are rumors already, aren't there?" she asked.
Rigby just giggled and winked.
Jayla finished up with Rigby and instructed everyone to administer hyronalin to one another and check for other injuries. The rest of the crew was sure to be coming in soon and if everyone could be ready for that, it would make everything much easier.
Alex arrived in Sickbay a moment later and walked right up to Jayla.
"Sorry I'm late," he said. "Took me a minute to find a free turbolift. I hope we're open and ready for business, because the trade is going to be brisk. Would you like my corpsmen here giving injections, maybe doing triage, and the IDCs like me treating patients here? Or would you like me to take some teams out deck by deck, section by section?"
Jayla gave Alex a smile that was perhaps a tiny bit too warm. "Check one another over first and be ready for dispatch once calls start coming in," she replied.
"Yes, ma'am," Alex said, winking quickly at Jayla to show that he felt the same way. "You can count on us."
Lucas was already present in sickbay, but found himself making his way toward the Medical Chief when she asked for personnel to report. "Welcome back, Doctor."
Dani joined the others that seemed to circle around Jayla. She had a feeling things were about to get very crazy for their department. The petite woman was glad to see the other faces and offered them a smile before her attention went back to where it needed to be. "Whatever you need, we'll see to it that it gets done."
Though the next few hours would be hectic, nothing would compare to the hell that everyone had experienced. Little did everyone know, the worst the zone had to offer had still yet to come...