Temtibi Lagoon and Hot Springs

Posted on Saturday May 13th, 2023 @ 4:56am by Lieutenant Miles O'Connell & Lieutenant Commander Kicil Priadden
Edited on on Saturday May 13th, 2023 @ 4:56am

3,442 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Shore Leave
Location: Temtibi Lagoon
Timeline: During the events of "Shore Leave"
Tags: Shore Leave, 2395, Character Development

[ON]

Kicil had just arrived at Temtibi Lagoon on Risa. She had checked into her room at the resort and changed into a two-piece swimsuit. She was looking forward to this break in routine, while Risa was bright, it was also warm and humid. There was the added bonus of the hot springs in the hills around Temtibi Lagoon. She took out some heavily tinted sunglasses and put them on and made her way to the beach to soak up some sun.

Miles had be wandering around and sort of got twisted around finally found himself arriving at he beach. He found a vacant beach lounge and decided to claim it as he had been walking for over an hour. He could find is way around any ship but yet the city streets were a whole new story for him. As he sat down, he took his shirt of and stowed it in his backpack and pullout some sunglasses. As he was about put on his sunglass, he noticed Kicil.

He stood up and made his way over to her. "Hello, fancy meeting you here of all places." Mile stated in a very friendly tone with a huge smile on his face. Not realizing that his pasty flesh was likely blinding the girl. "I hope you are enjoying this bit of shore leave." He added.

Kicil smiled as she looked up at Lieutenant O'Connell, she did not remove the heavily tinted sunglasses "I am Lieutenant. If I did not know better, I would say you are following me around" she said in a teasing voice. "It is nice to finally enjoy some warmth, humidity, and some sunshine. Please have a seat if you wish. Any plans for your leave."

"Well, I was just thinking I would enjoy myself more if I had some company." Miles stated as he took the seat available next to Kicil. "Then I saw you. I hope you really don't mind if I join you here?" He asked and then felt awkward for that odd question. "I was just hoping to unwind and explore as I have never been here to Risa before."

Kicil smiled, "Consider yourself having found a exploration companion. I definitely want to go to the Hot Springs, plus there is a nude beach I want to check out. Then of course there is all the fine dining and other eateries to try."

Miles sort of blushed a little. "Thank you, I would enjoy your company exploring this pleasure paradise. But I don't want to intrude on your plans. The hot springs sound nice and the nude beach would be interesting. But do you know exactly what this is for?" Miles then pulled a horga'hn form his backpack. "I was having a tea and scone at the cafe near my quarters here and next thing I knew this was on the corner of my table."

Kicil laughed and looked at Lieutenant Miles O'Connel, she decided to have a little fun and see how bright red she could make him blush. "Why Lieutenant, I didn't know you wanted to have jamaharon, a Risian sexual rite with me." She laughed again "What you have is a Risian horga'hn that indicates to others you are seeking jamaharon, a Risian sexual rite; a very intimate, emotional and spiritual rite. Hold onto it, whoever gave it to you gave you a very special gift." She then swung to a sitting position, "Say want to go and explore the Hot Springs, I heard there is a hidden one that has rejuvenate powers. We can grab some food and have a picnic."

"Well, I heard rumors about this little idol but never figured I would have ever had one in my possession." Miles replied and slide it back in his backpack. oO Well Kicil would be the one I would enjoy the company of in the means of what this idol represents, I need to get there in the proper manner. Oo "Sure lets make a day out of exploring and companionship. The hot springs sound like a great place to reward us from a nice hike." Miles added. "I left all of my personal affects other than what is in my backpack in my room, so I have able to stow some rations for a picnic within it."

Kicil smiled "Okay then, you gather the rations. I need to return to my suite and change, plus grab my med kit, never can be to careful. Make sure you get plenty of water." With that Kicil jumped up and made a beeline to a beachside suite.

"Great, I will see to our rations and meet you back here." Miles replied and then walked over to a vendor on the edge of the beach and purchased some rations. He got a couple of sandwiches and some assorted nut mixes and four bottles of water. He arranged all in his backpack to keep it secure. He also double checked his small med kit and his filtering straw which if the need should arise, he could use it to get water from any source that was not radioactive. He also moved his combadge into his hidden pocket on his shorts to make sure they had a means to call someone if they got lost or he dropped his backpack.

Kicil hurriedly grabbed and pulled on a white Santorini Tunic shirt over her light blue bikini top. She then grabbed and slide on a pair of white tie-front wrap Beach/Swim pants over her light blue bikini bottoms. Finally, she slide on a pair of light teal Riptide water shoes. She grabbed her sling pack and threw a medical tricorder, corpsman first aid kit, two light blue beach towels. She then quickly made her way back to Lieutenant O'Connell. She approached O'Connell "Well I am ready if you are? You got the food and water, right?" Then seeing he did not have his Starfleet issued combadge she inquired "Where's your combadge, thought Starfleet regs said we are required to have them with us at all times, even on leave?"

"Yes I have secured rations and water." Miles replied and motioned to his backpack. "As for my commbadge, I have a special pocket within my shorts that I have concealed it so I did not flaunt that I am Starfleet." Miles then motioned with his hand to the cuff on the left side of his shorts. "I am sort of looking forward to this chance to explore this place and spend time with you."

Kicil smiled and pulled out an old-fashioned map and compass, "Okay then let's begin. Have you ever done any Orienteering?" She asked as she began to lead them towards the tropical hills of Temtibi Lagoon, where the hot springs were located.

"I was never one for actually reading a map but I do have a keen since of direction." Miles replied. "I guess that means I have not truly done any orienteering." He simply followed the intriguing Cardassian as she started their hike to the hot springs. "I am already glad I ran into you here and that I decided to actually take shore leave and not stay on the ship working on the systems we are needing to upgrade in the warp drive."

"I thought that the upgrades to starships were performed by the Starfleet Corps of Engineers; in order to let the normal crew of engineers get dome stress relief?" Kicil inquired as she led them deeper into the tropical forest. She looked at the map, then checked her compass and made adjustments to their hike.

"I like to try to work out the details and have the ship out of service when it could be on a mission. I have was a child who took about our replicator just to tweak it and put it back together for fun." Miles replied. "I thus have never been one for a luxury vacation or such even when we had the time off. So I do upgrades in the down time. But Commander Sharpe threatened to lock me out of the ship's systems if I did not come have some fun on this planet. So running into you was a blessing for me as I like you and figured you would help me experience fun and I can get to know you more as well." Miles was focused on the path Kicil was plotting as well as the changed of temperature from the beach to where they are now. "It is getting warmer, I think. Maybe we are close to the springs."

Kicil studied the map, "That cannot be correct, the hot springs are still deeper in." She continued forward into a clearing; there was a pool of bubbling water with the most unusual looking gemstone in the middle of it. The stone had light green outer edge that slowly faded into a yellow, then violet, red, and then deep blue. It was shaped into a star like rose pattern, and pulsed. When Kicil saw it she became mesmerized by it, "What is it?" she inquired.

"I am not sure what that is. I have studied some geology and never come across such a gemstone." Miles replied and he noticed how mesmerized Kicil was with the stone. "Maybe this is a game or something they do here." Miles knew better but he was looking around like he was someplace he was not supposed to be and yet he was starting to feel an attraction to the stone as well.

Kicil suddenly remembered her medical tricorder. She unslung her sling pack and dug out her medical tricorder. She began to run an analysis of the gemstone, just as she was beginning to run her scan, she heard a voice "Well look who is here Retul, a Humaan and a Cardassian." "What do you want me to do boss?" "Shoot them you idiot." Kicil spun around just in time to be hit by a glowing red glow from an Orion Disruptor Pistol. As she fell to the ground, she saw an Orion male and a Ferengi female. Kicil faded to black.

Miles turned just as Kicil went down. "Wait, you don' have to kill us. We are just on vacation and mean no harm towards you." He froze and put up his hands." He noticed the Ferengi female and the Orion male were dressed in beach attire and yet they seemed like they were more than just a boss and henchman. "I see you are likely after this gemstone here. We will let you have it. No worries." Then Miles was shot with the disruptor as well. As he went down he noticed the Ferengi and Orion were also seeming to be affected by the gemstone as well. Then he hit the ground and was out.

Kicil slowly came around; she had a throbbing headache, her chest felt like someone had used a sledgehammer on it and she was cold. She slowly opened her eye and for a second panicked, it was dark, and she thought she had lost her sight, then the blurriness subsided, and she saw it was nighttime. She was laying in an awkward position, and something was jabbing her side. She rolled over with a groan. She slowly sat up and looked about. she saw Lieutenant O'Connell lying on the ground. She tried to stand but nausea overcame her and she sat back down. "Miles," she croaked "Miles are you okay?"

Groggy and in a little shock, Miles sat up and had a puzzled look about him. "What is okay?" he said as he opened his eyes to see the charming Cardassian looking at him. "I am not sure what happened but the lights have gone out. I am not sure if I am able to stand as the fauna is dancing around me." Dizziness was setting in on him and he closed his eyes once again. "What in tarnation's happened to us?"

Kicil fought the nausea "That was a maximum setting of an Orion Disruptor Pistol. Plays havoc on one's neural synaptic systems. It should wear off in a while. If I had my med kit, I could ease the troubles it causes, but I believe we have been robbed." She reached down and felt for her combadge. "Bastards took my combadge." She then felt the object that had been jabbing her in the side when she came to consciousness. It was her medical tricorder. She checked but it was not working. "Good news, have my medical tricorder, bad news it seems to be broken."

"Well, while my backpack with our rations and water was taken, they did not take my emergency tool kit. I had it stashed in a special pocket of my shorts. I also stashed my combadge but that now also seems to be broken." Miles stated. "But with the tools I have and the parts of my combadge, I may be able to fix the tricorder as it seems like it is not too badly broken." Miles crawled over to get the tricorder and then pulled out the small tool kit which consisted of a few mini tools and a micro torch. He looked over the tricorder. "Good news I should have this up and working in a few minutes."

Miles then tinkered away. He used a few parts from his smashed combadge to fix broken connections on the tricorder as well as the combadge's power source. "This will not be as good as is should but enough to make some medical scans and review stored data. Also if I adjust a few circuits I maybe be able to make a transponder out of the tricorder and maybe the ship could detect the signal and rescue us. But I am not sure the signal would be strong enough to permeate through the weather grid and make to orbit."

Kicil nodded, the motion causing another rise in nausea, and increased her headache. She grew concerned that should not be the case, she should actually be having decreased nausea and her headache shouldn't be getting worse. "Okay, let me see it when you're done. Something is not quite right."

After a couple of minutes, Miles had the tricorder operational for its intended purpose but he would not be able to adjust it much more as it had some other damage he didn't have the ability to fix in the field. "Kicil, here you go. It will work as a medical tricorder but that is about it for now." Miles handed the tricorder to Kicil.

She took it as another bout of nausea hit her, she ran a scan over herself first Damn, just what I thought.. She then scanned Miles Damn and double Damn. "Okay, good news the tricorder is functioning somewhat; bad news we both have ARS, acute radiation syndrome. Treatable, but we will be feeling horrible until I get us to the ship's sickbay or local medical facility. We need to get that gem back also, it's the source of the radiation. To make matters worse, it appears to be a living entity."

"Radiation that is a living entity?" Miles questioningly replied. "Interesting, I maybe able to reconfigure the tricorder to track the radiation signature if you think we could spare the medical need for it?" Miles then felt a little nausea, himself.

Kicil thought for a second "Do it. Gods know we need to find that damn thing before it causes much more trouble. Plus, I have a score to settle with a specific Ferengi and Orion for a ponding headache." With that she handed the medical tricorder back to Miles.

"Thanks, I will reconfigure this." and he started to tinker with the tricorder. He opened up and switched two components inside and adjusted a wire to reroute the scanning power. He closed it up and rebooted it. "I am now detecting a radiation source about a kilometer to our south and it appears to be stationary." Miles replied.

The twosome then got to their feet and started the hike towards the signal.

"Well, getting the vacation you expected?" Kicil inquired. The more they moved the better she began to feel; she knew though that they would require treatment for the radiation. "Also do you think that Ferengi and Orion know what they have?"

"I am off the ship and anytime I am off the ship and not required to do engineering, I am on vacation. While I had hoped to be at a beach soaking in the sun or splashing in the water ore even maybe enjoying some private time with a companion or two. However, I am enjoying myself honestly just spending time with you." Miles replied as he enjoyed his time with Kicil. "I am not sure if they know what they have but the indicator has not moved so maybe they are being affected by the radiation. But I may have an idea how to help us be better protected from the exposure if we find them."

The pair continued to the location the tricorder indicated and they found the Ferengi and the Orion both passed out on the ground having succumbed to the affects of the gem's radiation. Miles then noticed that the Orion had a small metallic box in the side pocket of his pack. Miles took the box and opened it. It was lined with a Kevlar type of material and it scanned as a lead-based metal. So he took a cloth and picked up the gem and placed it in the box and sealed it. He reclaimed his pack and got out some water for him and Kicil. They were still in need of treatment but for now the box would work to keep the radiation exposure to a low minimum. Kicil was still not herself, so Miles bound the Ferengi and Orion using gear form his pack. They would not be going anywhere anytime soon.

"Great, now we can make it back to the resort and get the authorities out here to apprehend these two and then get the treatment we need and get back to the ship." Miles then put on his pack and then helped Kicil up to her feet and they started the long walk back to the resort. Now at least they had some water and a few snacks to help them sustain themselves to make it.

"Once we get this ARS treated," Kicil added, somewhat strained in voice. "Come on, not far now. It's almost over."

---- Afterward ----

It was a strained walk back to the resort. Thankfully, the moment the two hit the resort grounds a security guard came rushing in. Kicil was the first to notify the staff of the injured left behind and, with the additional testimony of Miles, the authorities were called and involved. Both Kicil and Miles were called in to give their accounts of events after being treated for ARS. The events of their encounter no doubt leaving a permanent memory in both of their minds, and a permanent reminder of their friendship as shipmates and compatriots.

Miles was affected a little more by the radiation than Kicil no doubt in part to him being human. He would need a least two more treatments by the doctor on the ship, but Kicil was coming along fine. "I am honestly happy I ran into you and I enjoyed our adventure even if we never made it to the hot springs. Spending the time with you made the experience a memory I will never forget."

Then Miles and Kicil were released to return to their ship and had to go via shuttle craft as the radiation may cause some issues with the transporter buffer. Miles made sure Kicil was comfortable and then he took his seat. As soon as his glutes hit the seat he fell asleep and sleep the whole ride back to the Poseidon. Once back on the ship, he went to sick bay with Kicil to report in to their doctor and set up his next two treatments.

Miles was happy and enjoyed his time but it was all because of Kicil. Had he not run into her on Risa, he would have likely had a boring time and played it very safe. "Kicil you take care of yourself and we need to get together again sometime soon." Miles states as the doctor then started his second round of the treatment he needed.

Kicil then departed for her quarters.

[OFF]

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Lieutenant Miles O'Connell
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
USS Poseidon

&

Lieutenant Kicil Priadden
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Poseidon

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