Star Trek Voyager: Here I Stand

Here I Stand, Part 4

Part 4

Richard smelled like fish.

She’d noticed it after the second date. When he walked her back to her townhouse and leaned in for a kiss, Kathryn detected a slight fishy smell. But they’d just eaten dinner at an exclusive seafood restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf. Of course he smelled like fish. She probably did, too. So she kissed him.

It was…unremarkable. And fishy. But there was definitely room for improvement, and he was rather charming, so she agreed, with her characteristic optimism, to a third date.

The next time the subtle fishy odor hit her nose, she dismissed it as confirmation bias. He’d smelled of fish the first time they kissed, so she’d been expecting it and would likely have perceived it whether it was really there or not. The scent wasn’t overpowering, just…there. The kissing had improved, that much was certain. And he was handsome in a primped and polished sort of way. She agreed to a fourth date.

More kissing. More fishiness. But he was damn sexy in his tailored Italian suits. She agreed to a fifth date.

Unfortunately, a diplomatic emergency forced her to cancel. Fortunately, this gave her time to prepare for the fishiness before their next date. 

Or so she thought. The day after her return from Paris, they went out for an extravagant dinner – succulent Kobe steaks served with roasted vegetables and very expensive wine and no seafood whatsoever – and drinks and dancing. When the holographic band slowed to a sultry jazz tune and he pulled her close to his body to show her just how much he’d missed her, the smell of fish tickled at her nose.

At this point, the scientist in Kathryn took over. Why did he smell like fish? What was he ingesting or inhaling or smoking that caused it? Or was it just a unique byproduct of his body chemistry? Was he even aware of it? Were others? After she took him to meet her family, she called her sister Phoebe. They chatted about Richard’s looks and charm and slight discomfort with Phoebe’s children. “But what did you think of that cologne he was wearing?” Kathryn asked.

 Phoebe’s eyebrows knit together. “Was he wearing cologne?”

When he took her to his mansion in Cupertino, she half expected to find a giant koi pond or a tank of exotic sea creatures. Nothing. Not even a goldfish bowl.

In the absence of a tricorder, she snooped. In his bathroom she found no ingestible or topical medications that would explain it. The soap in his shower had no scent at all — and he had very little use for shampoo, so she didn’t even check. The cologne on his nightstand was rare and expensive and Deltan...but it did not smell of fish.

His sheets, however, did.

Hers did, too, the morning after Celes and Billy’s wedding.

In fact, she felt rather fishy herself when she woke up pressed against a clammy, clingy, ropy body and wanted nothing more than to extricate herself and make a cup of coffee.

She felt even fishier four days later when she broke her dinner date with Richard and set out across the Academy grounds to find Chakotay.

She told herself it was for Kayma. Earlier that day she had run the data and her own logs from Voyager’s encounter with Chaotic Space off onto a padd, thinking Kayma might be interested in it for her thesis. She wanted to pull the Doc’s medical logs, too, but as the patient in question, only Chakotay could give permission to release the information. She called his office. His teaching assistant said he was gone, but she could probably find him at the Boothby Memorial Gym working out with the Academy boxing team.