Helping Hands
Author: Rocky

Time frame: 2 months into the journey to the DQ

Many thanks to the VVS7.5 staff for their assistance with this story.

Spoiler: B'Elanna discovers that a village can help raise a child.


B'Elanna took a sip from her cup, barely noticing her coffee had long since gone cold, and frowned at the engineering report. Those numbers didn't look right at all; she made a mental note to tell Lieutenant Percy, the engineer in charge of Gamma Shift, to run the diagnostic on the matter-anti-matter flow once more, this time making sure to pay attention to deviations-

"Mama, is it time yet?" said a high-pitched voice at her elbow, effectively breaking her chain of concentration.

B'Elanna bit back a sigh and looked at her daughter, who gazed back expectantly. "No, Miral, it's not." She returned her attention to her report.

"But I wanna go to the holodeck! You promised!"

"It's still too early," B'Elanna said, trying to be patient. "I'll tell you when it's time. Now, I just need a few more minutes to finish up my work, so why don't you go and play with your puzzles in the meantime?"

Miral stuck out her lower lip. "I don't wanna play! I wanna go to the holodeck!"

"And we will, honey, I promise. Just not yet." B'Elanna picked up her PADD, hoping to forestall any further discussion.

"When?"

Mentally counting to ten, B'Elanna said, "When I finish my work. Miral, take your stuffed targ and go to your room-"

"I wanna stay with you," Miral said. She leaned her head against B'Elanna's leg. "Please?"

B'Elanna reached down and affectionately smoothed her daughter's curls. She and Tom usually worked split shifts, trying to find the optimum balance between parenting and carrying out their duties on the ship. Due to some recurring problems in Engineering, however, for the past week she'd only seen Miral after the little girl was in bed for the night. Despite her present annoyance, B'Elanna was very glad to see that Miral had missed her, and she was looking forward to some quality time together as well. "All right, sweeting, you can stay here with me but you have to be a *very* good girl and let me finish my work. OK?"

"OK," Miral said, nodding vigorously. She scrambled onto a nearby chair, her legs dangling over the edge, and folded her hands primly in her lap.

"Good," B'Elanna said, and began perusing the report once more. Ah-there it was, in the second phase of the theta-wave radiation-

"Now, Mama?"

B'Elanna slammed the PADD on the desktop a little harder than she intended. "No, not yet. I'll tell you when it's time to go!" She exhaled sharply and scrolled down past the first set of graphs, looking to see if there was a pattern-

And became aware of a steady thumping noise. "Miral!"

"Yes, Mama?" Miral replied, continuing to swing her legs back and forth.

"Stop kicking the desk."

"OK."

The influx ratio was showing a standard deviation of 0.0047 microns per rotation-

"Now?"

B'Elanna closed her eyes, sighed deeply, and then turned off her PADD. "Yes, Miral, we're going now."

"Yippee!" Miral yelled and started to dash for the door.

"Just a second," B'Elanna said, reaching out and grasping the little girl's arm. "Do you have to go to the bathroom first?"

"No," Miral said, struggling to get free.

"Fine. Let's go." B'Elanna caught sight of the chronometer and shrugged. There was still another fifteen minutes until their reservation began, but being a parent had taught her that sometimes you just had to give in to the inevitable. And maybe, if she could persuade Miral to walk slowly, they wouldn't arrive at the holodeck *too* early.


B'Elanna's hopes for a leisurely stroll through the ship were instantly dashed. No sooner had the door to their quarters opened, than Miral had broken free of the restraining maternal hand and run down the corridor. "Miral! Wait!"

But the little bundle of energy showed no signs of hearing or even slowing down.

"Kahless, that child!" B'Elanna muttered and took off after her. Fortunately, her own legs were much longer and she was confident she would soon catch up to her. She rounded a corner, and sure enough there was Miral-

-running smack into someone coming from the other direction.

"Miral!"

The little girl literally bounced off and ended up on the floor, where she sat gasping, apparently too stunned to even cry. B'Elanna rushed over, but the officer who had been on the receiving end of the collision had already bent down and scooped Miral up in his arms. "Are you all right, little one?"

"Miral!" B'Elanna exclaimed at the same time. "You know better than to go running down the corridors like that!" She transferred her gaze to the officer, recognizing the stern craggy features of the Klingon Tactical officer. "Lieutenant Ishtak, I'm so sorry-"

Miral stared intently at the man holding her. She reached out and tugged on the dark coarse hair arrayed over his shoulders and touched one of his forehead ridges. "Uncle K'Nar?"

He smiled. "No, little one, my name is Ishtak, son of Gorok, of the House of Klaa. What's your name?"

"Miral Paris," she said proudly. "My mama makes the ship go and my daddy flies it."

"Ah," Ishtak said. "And what do you do?"

Miral looked to her mother for help. B'Elanna said, "The only adult Klingons she's met have been my mother's family-that's probably why she thought you were her uncle." She paused. "I'm sorry she ran into you like that, she's just very excited-"

"We're going to the holodeck," Miral announced. "Mama said we can play Flotter."

"It's a Terran children's program, Flotter and Trevis," B'Elanna explained, suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable. She didn't really know Lieutenant Ishtak very well; in the two months of their voyage, she'd only exchanged a few words with him outside of ship's business. Not that it was any of his concern, she inexplicably felt compelled to defend her choice of entertainment for her child.

But Ishtak said only, "Yes, I'm familiar with it, Commander. It fosters the imagination and promotes skills of problem-solving." He set Miral on her feet and winked. "It's also a lot of fun."

B'Elanna stared in surprise.

Ishtak straightened up. "I will leave you both to your holodeck adventure. Good afternoon, Commander, Miral."

"Bye," said Miral. She tugged on her mother's hand. "Come on, Mama, let's go."

"Sure," B'Elanna replied, shifting her attention back to her daughter. "The turbolift is just a little bit further on. Do you want to tell the computer which deck to go to?"

"Yes!" Miral said happily, and darted ahead. B'Elanna sighed and followed.


Two days later, in mid-afternoon, the Paris family entered the Observation Lounge. It was a favorite gathering spot for many of the crew, as its large floor-to-ceiling viewports gave a stunning panorama of space. Although the individual stars could be seen better at regular warp, the distortion effect of the transwarp corridor only added to the experience. Surprisingly, even though Alpha shift had just ended, the lounge was not crowded.

Expecting Miral to head straight for the transparent aluminum and press her nose against it as she always did, B'Elanna was surprised to see her daughter instead veer off to the side. "Miral!"

At the same time, Tom called out, "Where are you going?"

A man with a distinctive profile turned his head at the sound of their voices. "Commander Torres, Commander Paris, Miral," Ishtak said gravely, his tone at odds with the twinkle in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to disturb you," B'Elanna said awkwardly.

"Not at all." Ishtak inclined his head graciously toward some nearby chairs. "Please, join me."

"I don't want to impose-" B'Elanna began, but the point was made moot as Miral immediately climbed on Ishtak's lap.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing at a silver brooch pinned to his left sleeve.

"It is my sigil, which says what house I belong to."

"Where is your house? Can I go there?"

Ishtak shook his head. "I meant it says what family I belong to."

Miral absorbed this for a moment. Then spying the PADD on the table she said, "Read me a story."

"Why I don't tell you one instead?" Ishtak said, turning off the PADD and moving it to one side. B'Elanna caught a fleeting glimpse of the screen before it went dark; it was a picture of a Klingon woman and two children. "What would you like to hear?"

"Rumpelstilskin."

"I don't know that one very well-how about I tell you another story instead?"

"With a princess?"

"Hmm." Ishtak stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Lukara wasn't exactly a princess, but she came from a fine and noble family." Miral settled back in the crook of his arm, her eyes never leaving his face as he told the tale of the courtship of Kahless and the Lady Lukara, and how they withstood the attack of five hundred warriors at the Great Hall of Qam-Chee. Ishtak was a good storyteller; his deep voice and dramatic gestures added greatly to the power of the story.

Tom raised his eyebrows and whispered, "B'Elanna, do you know this one?"

"I've heard it," she said briefly. At Tom's inquiring glance she added, "My mother once told me it's considered the greatest romance in Klingon history."

"All that blood and fighting, yeah, I can see why a Klingon would think so," Tom said teasingly. B'Elanna blushed as she thought of what Tom had said the time he'd found her reading "The Warrior Women at the River of Blood."

As Ishtak approached the climax of the story, B'Elanna saw with surprise that he had gathered quite an audience. Several others in the room, not just Miral, were listening spellbound to his every word.

"Did they live happily ever after?" Miral wanted to know, after Ishtak had finished.

"They went on to share many more glorious adventures together," said Ishtak. He handed Miral to Tom. "Did you enjoy the story, little one?"

"Yes," Miral said and nodded vigorously. "Tell me more?"

"Another time," Ishtak promised. "If your parents agree, that is."

"Are you kidding?" Tom said. "*I* want to hear another one, too!"

Ishtak threw back his head and laughed uproariously. "We have a deal, then!"

As he turned to leave, B'Elanna touched his arm hesitantly. "You have a real talent for storytelling," she said. Ishtak smiled. She found herself adding, "I haven't heard that story in many, many years, but I don't think I ever heard it told so well."

Ishtak looked as though he understood what she hadn't put into words. "You are very welcome, Commander."


"I'm trying it now, Captain," B'Elanna said, her hand hovering over one of the main power consoles in Engineering. "Watch for the flicker."

Janeway stood before the panel, watching the readout intently. "Go ahead, Commander." The wave pattern danced over the monitor, and there, in the lower right hand corner, almost too quickly to be seen, there was a definite flicker. "Yes, I see it!"

B'Elanna nodded to the nearby crewman, who immediately shut down the console. "That's what's been causing all those fluctuations."

Janeway shook her head. "This couldn't have been easy to discover. In fact, I'm amazed you were able to do so without knowing precisely what you were looking for."

"We were on the right track all along, thinking it had to do with the theta-wave radiation, but even so it took some doing," B'Elanna agreed. "But we've got it now. There's no doubt about it."

"And now we also know why Odyssey hasn't been experiencing a similar problem."

"I'll send a message to their chief engineer and tell them what to be on the lookout for," B'Elanna said.

"Good. And be sure to tell Geordi that this shows his ship is *not* in any way superior to ours!" Janeway added, a glint in her eye. B'Elanna grinned at the reference to the ongoing 'friendly competition' between the two Starfleet captains.

"I just want to check one more thing, as long as you've got that system off-line." Janeway picked up a hyperspanner from a nearby tool pouch and stepped in front of Delia O'Brien. "Ensign, may I?"

"Yes, ma'am!" said Delia, almost stuttering in her eagerness, as she hurried to get out of the captain's way.

Janeway bent and poked around a little bit in the console's innards, and then straightened up. She handed the tool to Delia and dusted off her hands. "You might want to check the junction on that plasma relay as well."

At B'Elanna's nod, Lieutenant Vorik immediately came over to see to it, as Delia and some of the other engineering crew exchanged surprised glances.

B'Elanna bit back another grin. "Do you have time for a cup of coffee before you have to be back on the bridge, Captain?" she said.

"There's *always* time for coffee," the Captain said immediately. "Especially if you're buying."

As soon as the door to the Chief Engineer's office closed, Janeway permitted herself to chuckle. "Well, you've certainly got them well and truly cowed. Unless it was my presence they were reacting to out there."

B'Elanna handed her a steaming cup of raktajino. "I don't think very many junior officers are used to seeing the captain get her hands dirty," she said diplomatically.

Janeway rolled her eyes. "Just another reminder of how different this tour of duty is from our last."

"When we were spread so thin, everyone got used to pitching in as needed," B'Elanna agreed, leaning back and sipping her own drink. "It's been two months, and I still feel like Engineering is over-crowded every time I walk in."

"It's nice to be adequately staffed," Janeway said with a smile. "I take it everyone is working out all right? No problems?"

B'Elanna sighed. "Nothing you're not aware of already."

Janeway stared. "You're still having problems with Murphy? I thought you'd managed to deal with that."

"As per Tuvok's advice, I've assigned him to details where you wouldn't think he could get into any trouble, but the man's a sheer magnet for bad luck. If something can go wrong, it will just as long as he's nearby," B'Elanna said grimly. "I've thought about partnering him with a more experienced officer so

there is someone to keep an eye on him at all times. But that's a pretty drastic step-singling him out this way-even if we do have the personnel for it."

"Other than the 'accidents', how is the rest of his performance?" Janeway asked, her concern plain to see.

"Tuvok suggested I fill out weekly performance reviews for Ensign 'Lucky.' And it's a good thing, because this way I know that he's not a *completely* unmitigated disaster." B'Elanna sighed again. "He's competent enough, I guess, but it's when he tries to 'impress' and do more than he's supposed to that things tend to go wrong."

"Well, keep him on a short leash," Janeway advised. She put down her empty cup and rose to her feet. "Was there anything else, B'Elanna?"

"No..." B'Elanna hesitated. "Captain, what do you know about Lieutenant Ishtak?"

"Ishtak?" said Janeway. "Why?"

"I was just wondering about him, his background," B'Elanna said quickly. "I mean, there aren't many Klingon officers serving in Starfleet."

"You mean, is he an exchange officer like Lieutenant Auraan?" Janeway asked, her lip curling slightly as she mentioned the Troyian's name. "No, Ishtak is regular Starfleet. His last posting was as Deputy Chief of Security on Starbase Four."

"I see."

Janeway seated herself once more. "As I recall, he did start out in the Imperial Klingon Fleet. He rose rapidly through the ranks, finally becoming a gunner aboard the Pagh, a Vor'cha-class cruiser."

"That's pretty impressive."

"It gets more so. The Pagh, along with two other ships, was destroyed in one of the early battles in the Dominion War-well before the Breen became involved. Most of the crew lost their lives, either when their warp core exploded or when their escape pods were caught in the backwash. Ishtak was in one of the few pods to be recovered, but he was severely injured, not expected to survive."

B'Elanna shook her head. "What happened next?"

"He was picked up by an Oberth-class vessel after drifting for weeks. They brought him to the medical facilities at one of the nearby starbases. He was in a coma for several months, but eventually pulled through. By then, things had gotten pretty bad as far as the war was concerned. Starfleet was desperately short of personnel, there had been so many losses. Even support staff-with no prior combat experience-were being pressed into service. As soon as Ishtak was back on his feet, he volunteered."

"I'm surprised he didn't want to go back to his home, or at least back to the Empire," B'Elanna said.

"His vessel had been destroyed, his squadron decimated," Janeway reminded her. "He himself wasn't entirely healthy. I suppose he felt an obligation to help beat back the Dominion, and figured he was most useful where he was."

"And afterwards, to stay on in Starfleet? What about his family?"

"I really don't know. His personnel file lists him as being 'unattached', which is surprising for a Klingon of his age. Perhaps his family were also lost in the war." Janeway sighed. "That's all I can tell you. If you want to find out more, try asking Tuvok."

"Tuvok?" B'Elanna said, surprised. "Why?"

"I understand they work out together, a few times a week."

B'Elanna's eyebrows rose at this unexpected information. A Vulcan and a Klingon didn't usually gravitate to each other unless they had professional interests in common. "Maybe Tuvok's keeping tabs on his old position," she said, thinking aloud. "It can't be easy, watching someone take over the job you held for so many years."

"No, it isn't," Janeway muttered.

::Sickbay to Janeway::

Janeway tapped her comm badge. "Janeway here. What can I do for you, Doctor Zimmerman?"

::It's 1605. We had an appointment, Captain:: the EMH said, his tone faintly scolding.

Janeway started guiltily. "Yes, Doctor. I assure you I haven't forgotten. I'll be right there."

"Problem?" B'Elanna asked. "I thought by now both he and Dr. Brown had more or less settled their differences."

"They're not clashing as frequently as they used to," Janeway said with another sigh as she rose to her feet. "Ever since the Doctor was 'persuaded' to spend his off-duty time in his quarters or in other parts of the ship instead of breathing down Brown's neck in Sickbay. But this has nothing to do with mediating any 'turf battles'-I'm due for my monthly fertility suppressant."

B'Elanna stirred uneasily. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry-"

Janeway quickly said, "Well, as much as I've enjoyed this, I must be on my way. Give Miral a kiss from me."

"I will. You and Chakotay should come by for dinner sometime," B'Elanna said.

"That would be great," Janeway said. "We'd love it."