Chakotay



Chakotay was a Human Federation Starfleet Officer and former Maquis leader who served as first officer of the USS Voyager during its seven years stranded in the Delta Quadrant. Upon Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant, Chakotay was promoted to Captain and took command of Voyager.

Chakotay was born in 2329 on Trebus to Kolopak and an Unamed mother. Chakotay has one younger sibling, a sister by the name of Sekaya.

Early Years
Being of Native American descent, Chakotay's tribe - mainly because of the intrusion of more technological societies - left Earth to find their own home on another planet near the Cardassian border. His father tried to impart his values on Chakotay in many ways, such as taking him on hikes to nearby forested worlds of their ancestors. In 2344, Kolopak was insistent upon finding his ancestors' home in Central America. He took Chakotay on a quest through the Central American rainforest, looking for the descendants of the ancient Rubber Tree People, who were ultimately the ancestors of the Mayans. Chakotay was initially very resistant to learn about his father's connection to their ancestral lands and spirits. He even refused to go deer hunting with him. All this left Kolopak rather disappointed about his son's lack of enthusiasm regarding their ways.

Chakotay, who was fifteen years old and had his sights already set on Starfleet, shocked his father by telling him that he himself would be leaving the tribe to enter Starfleet Academy. Chakotay believed that their tribe lived in the past of fantasy and myth, which he did not want to be part of; he wanted to be like all the other tribes that had embraced the 24th century. His father disapproved of his son's decision but, at that time, was unable to convince him otherwise.

Starfleet Academy
Thanks to a sponsorship from Captain Sulu, Chakotay entered Starfleet Academy in lat 2347. During the first few weeks in the Academy he became friend with Svetlana "Sveta" Korepanova from Russia. He also became unlikely friends with a late assigned roomate, an unflappy cheerful Bolian named Chert.

At the end of his first year at the Academy, Chakotay considered leaving, and returned to Trbus to undergo his first vision quest using the akonnah. As a result of his vision quest he decided to continue his Academy education.

During his first year at the Academy, Chakotay underwent intensive pilot training in North America. Shortly afterward he underwent training on Venus, followed by a semster training in the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter.

Whilst studying at the Academy, Chakotay became a proficient light-heavyweight boxer, and scored a record of 23 wins wins and only two losses, which were both to a Nausicaan.

Early Career
Chakotay graduated from the Academy in 2351, and by 2353 he served on board the USS Vico, as an aide to Captain Roger Hackney holding the rank of Lieutenant. It was aboard the Vico that he had his first encounter with a Cardassian warship that had violated the Federation bhe first officer.

At some point, Chakotay began to serve on the USS Heritage. A female officer by the name of Grant was the first officer. During this time, Chakotay and Grant began a romantic relationship, on of which Grant noted in Chakotay's starfleet record.

In 2362, Chakotay transferred to the USS Gage. He stayed aboard the Gage for four years, during the conflict with the Cardassians. Following the end of the Federation-Cardassian War, Chakotay was granted an extended leave of absence on Trebus.

By 2368, Lieutenant Commander. Chakotay was serving aboard the USS Gettysburg, under the command of Captain Madolyn Gordon.

In March that year, Chakotay decided to resign his commission, so upon his return to Earth he handed in his resignation to Admiral Nimembeh at Starfleet Headquarters. He then returned to Trebus.

The Maquis
In early 2370, Chakotay visited his old Academy friend "Sveta" on Bajor. "Sveta" informed Chakotay that there was a new resistance group against the Federation-Cardassian Treaty of 2370 called the Maquis. "Sveta" requested that Chakotay join this group and help defend his colony and others that found themselves in the Demilitarized Zone, and subject to Cardassian rule. He supported the group, but needed time to consider his options.

A few weeks later, Chakotay's life was changed forever when his village on Trebus was destroyed by a Cardassian thermalite weapon. He joined the Maquis, and was placed in command of a ship dubbed the Liberty.

Chakotay and his father were not on good terms when Kolopak was killed while defending his Trebus against Cardassians. When the news reached Chakotay, he was unsure about how to reconcile their differences and heal their old wounds. It was then that he took the mark, the tattoo, on his forehead in order to honor the memory of his father and to signify his Native American heritage. He finally began placing great faith in his spiritual background by taking pride in the stories and accomplishments of his people. He often embarked on vision quests to help guide his life and spirit and to commune with his father's spirit. He also used a medicine wheel to heal himself both spiritually and physically.

One of his first contacts in the Maquis was a Bajoran woman by the name of Seska, who Chakotay became very close to. A few weeks later, Chakotay rescued B'Elanna Torres from a Bolain freighter that had been attacked by Gul Tancret and the Cardassians. After saving her, Chakotay took her to Riva Prime and Torres joined the Maquis and became the chief engineer of the Liberty.

Around stardate 47582, Chakotay and Torres encountered the Cardassian prototype weapon, Dreadnought in the Badlands. While the self-guided weapon was meant to destroy a Maquis weapons base, Torres reprogrammed the weapon to attack Cardassian planets.

A few weeks later, the Libert was destroyed, but all crewmates managed to survive. Shortly after, his team managed to salvage an old freighter from a Federation surplus depot and they named the ship Geronimo. Ther Geronimo herself was lost in 2371, after she was destroyed by Tharia ch'Ren, a former crewmember who had siezed control of the third Malkus Artifact. Thankfully, Chakotay and his crew were rescued by Cal Hudson.

Following this event, Chakotay was given command of the Ju'Day-Class fighter Spartacus. In early 2371, the Spartacus discovered the plauge ridden planet Helena in the Demilitarized Zone. Chakotay's crew, along with Lieutenant Thomas Riker, succeeded in defeating the disease, and the mixed-race inhabitants of the planet.

A few weeks after this event, Chakotay assumed command of another Ju'Day-Class fighter named the Val Jean. He was to lead a large Maquis task force from the base on the Terikof Belt to attack the Cardassian Montee Fass shipyards in the Oliv System. However, plasma storm activity in the Badlands forced the attack to be called off, but instead they launched an attack on Opek Nor and succeeded in destroying the station.

The Val Jean was pursued by the Galor-Class vessel the Vetar, under the command of Gul Aman Evek, into the Badlands, where she was disabled in the plasma storms. Captain Chakotay didn't get to savour his victory, as shortly after his vessel was hit by a mysterious displacement wave created by the Caretaker, to carry them to the far reaches of the Delta Quadrant.

Beginings In the Delta Quadrant
Shortly after arriving in the Delta Quadrant, Chakotay and his crew were transported to the Caretaker's Array, and examined for the viability to act as the Caretakers successor. Three weeks later, the USS Voyager was transported to the Delta Quadrant by the same displacement wave and underwent similar examinations. For the sake of finding away to return to the Alpha Quadrant, Chakotay teamed up with Captain Kathryn Janeway. In the battle with the Kazon around the Caretaker's Array, Chakotay sacrificed the Val Jean to destroy the lead Kazon ship by transporting his crew over to Voyager and setting a collission course with the Kazon vessel. When Captain Janeway decided to destroy the array to save the Ocampa, Chakotay supported her decision and the former Maquis joined Janeway's crew with Chakotay serving as her first officer.

Initially, Chakotay had a difficult job trying to merge his former Maquis crew with the crew of Voyager. In the first weeks, B'Elanna Torres and Joe Carey were competing for the position of Chief Engineer. Several of his former crew had immense problems adjusting to Starfleet ways, and upon Chakotay's suggestion, they underwent a crash course in Academy training from Lieutenant Tuvok.

Commanding The USS Voyager
After returning to Earth, Chakotay was promoted to Captain, after the promotion of Captain Janeway to Admiral and given command of Voyager. Tom Paris, who was also promoted two steps in rank, was Chakotay's choice to become Voyager's first officer. He was, however overuled by Staarfleet Command and Commander. Andrew Ellis was assigned to be Voyager's first officer. When Commander. Ellis was revealed to be a renegade changeling Paris was transferred to the position of first officer.

In June 2379, Chakotay met Admiral Janeway for dinner. The two talked about work and also possible romances before finally admitting a romantic interest in each other, which developed into a romantic liason. Janeway and Chakotay agreed to meet each other in Venice the following year, following Voyager's return from the Yaris Nebula.

In June 2380, Chakotay kept the date and waited for Janeway in Venice, only to be met by her former fiancé, Mark Johnson, who broke the news of her death. Following this revalation concerns about Chakotay's menatal and emotional state were raised by Voyager's crew, culmanating in an incident in August when Chakotay gave an order to detroy and Orion ship, which, although not an illegal order, was widely regarded as a merciless one and one which was out of character.

2381
Voyager was one of the vessels dispatched to the Azure Nebula to provide reinforcements to the USS Aventine and USS Enterprise-E during the Borg Inavasion of 2381. When both vessels traversed a subspace tunnel, Chakotay was left in command of the fleet, coordinating the efforts of several allied vessels in opening other tunnels. He had just recieved word of the discovery of the proper frequency to open the other tunnels when aperture 26 opened, allowing seven thousand Borg Cubes through. The borg fleet overan allied forces, and Voyager emitted a distress call to Earth.

When the Borg fleet emerged from the subspace corridoors in the Azure Nebula, Chakotay was frozen in shock on the bridge, traumatised by the sight of thousands of Borg Cubes appraoching the fleet. Following the destruction of the allied fleet at the apex to the corridoors, Chakotay entered a comatose state on the bridge, remaining unresponsive to all external stimulus, forcing Tom Paris to take command of the repair efforts.

Following the Azure Nebula incident, Chakotay requested an open-ended leave of absence from Starfleet, which was granted. During this time Voyager was refitted with a slipstream drive and assigned to the Project Full Circle fleet, which was preparing to return to the Delta Quadrant. Concerned about Chakotay's command ability, Admirals Kenneth Montgomery and Willaim Batiste ordered him to under a psychological evaluation and, aware of the difficulties between them, assigned Counselor Hugh Cambridge to perform the evaluation. During the course of the conversation Chakotay and Cambridge developed a deep but mutual respect for eachother and Cambridge not only recommended that Chakotay remain as Captain of Voyager, but that his remaining in post was essential for the success of the mission. His decision, however was overturned and Montgomery and Batiste, who assigned Afsarah Eden as Commanding Officer in his place. Devastated by the decision, and increasingly concerned about the physical and mental health of Seven of Nine, Chakotay resigned from Starfleet.

The next time Chakotay visited Seven, he found her in a conscious but vacant and unresponsive state. He enlisted the help of Icheb and Sveta to undertake a vision quest, through which he was able to reach her. He then accompanied her to rendezvous with the Project Full Circle fleet. He was met with suspicion by Admiral Batiste and Captain Eden and, when evidence of sabotage was discovered aboard Voyager, initial evidence pointed to Chakotay. It was soon discovered, however, that Admiral Batiste himself was the sabateur and a member of Species 8472. Negotiations between Chakotay, Eden and the Species 8472 operative known as Valerie Archer allowed Batiste to return to fluidic space.

Following her report to Admiral Montgomery, Captain Eden was reassigned as commander of the Full Circle Fleet. She also informed Chakotay that his resignation had not, in fact, been accepted by Starfleet and invited him to resume his duties - once again as Captain of Voyager - which was accepted.

Alternate Realities & Timelines

 * In on timeline presented in the episode ('VOY:Timeless') Chakotay and Harry Kim were the only members of Voyager's crew to make it back to Earth after a test of the ships new Slipstream Drive failed causing Voyager to drop out of the slipstream and crash landing on an Arctic planet, killing the crew upon impact. Fifteen years after the incident and the eventual discovery of Voyager's whereabouts, Chakotay and Harry Kim 'Fixed' history by preventing Voyager's initial test of the drive.
 * In the episode ("Before & After") in which Kes experiences an alternate timeline, Chakotay took command of Voyager after the first encounter with the Krenim Imperium resulted in the death of Captain Janeway and B'Elanna Torres.
 * During the "Year of Hell" conflict with the Krenim, Chakotay and Tom Paris were captured by Annorax, the Commander of the Krenim Timeship. At first, Chakotay helped Annorax, who promised to return Voyager intact to its original timeline if Chakotay gave him enough detail about Voyager's time in Krenim space, so that Annorax could have the right calculations to use in his temporal weapon. but after Annorax destroyed a species to try to restore the timeline, Chakotay helped sabotage the ship by transmitting its location to Voyager and taking its weapons offline. This allowed Janeway to set a collision course with the Krenim Timeship, destroying it and restoring the original timeline.
 * In the alterate timeline witnessed in the episodes ("Endgame Parts 1&2") where voyager took another 16 years to reach home, Chakotay married Seven of Nine, who later died on an away mission, Chakotay himself later died in 2394, the same year as Voyager's return.
 * In the alternate timeline presented in the novel Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Places of Exile, Voyager was forced to remain in the Delta Quadrant due to series damage to the ship and Chakotay became a statesman in the Vostigye Union, which had become Voyager's new home. In This timeline, Chakotay and janeway were romantically involved and had a daughter named Shannon Sekaya Janeway.