Trekipedia

Chakotay

Chakotay was born in 2335 on the colony world of Trebus, which had been settled generations before by Native American Humans in search of a new world on which they could return to their ancestral ways. (VOY-) In 2350, Chakotay traveled with his father, Kolopak, back to Earth. They searched throughout Central America for artifacts of their ancestors, the Rubber Tree People, who were descended from the Mayans. Throughout his youth, Chakotay had been disillusioned with his people’s culture, often rebelling against his father.^[6]

In 2353, Chakotay entered Starfleet Academy, sponsored by Captain Sulu.^[6] Conflicting reports indicate this was either Captain Hiromi Sulu, the 36-year-old grandson of the legendary captain of the U.S.S. Excelsior NCC-2000,^[23] or Captain Demora Sulu,^[40] Hiromi’s mother and captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-B.^[39] While at the Academy, Chakotay became a “special project” of Lieutenant Nimembeh, an instructor at the school. He also befriended Sveta, another cadet. Chakotay trained as a pilot over North America, and spent two months on Venus. He later learned finer control and maneuvering in the asteroid belt.^[23]

In 2357, Chakotay graduated from the Academy. His first posting was aboard the U.S.S. Vico under Captain Roger Hackney. During his time aboard the Vico, Chakotay took part in one of the Federation‘s early contacts with the Cardassian Union. In 2359, Chakotay transferred to the U.S.S. Gage NCC-11672 with a promotion to lieutenant, junior grade, just prior to the onset of hostilities with the Cardassians. In 2360, Chakotay was a member of the Tarkannan first contact team.^[23]

In 2370, following the death of his father when a Cardassian attack annihilated his home colony, Chakotay contacted his old friend Sveta, who had joined the Maquis when her husband and children were killed by Cardassians. Sveta had contacted Chakotay before, trying to convince him to join as well, but he didn’t have the motivation until the Cardassians destroyed his home.^[19] During his time with the Maquis, Chakotay became involved with Seska, a Bajoran member of his ship’s crew.^[2] Chakotay also recruited several others, including B’Elanna Torres and Tom Paris.^[23]

In 2371, Chakotay’s ship, the Liberty,^[3] was lost in the Badlands during a firefight with Cardassian warships. In fact, the Liberty had been abducted to the Delta Quadrant by a being known as the Caretaker. Within two weeks, the U.S.S. Voyager NCC-74656, commanded by Captain Kathryn Janeway, was dispatched to search for the Maquis, as Voyager‘s chief of security, Tuvok, was aboard the ship, undercover. Like the Liberty, Voyager was also taken by the Caretaker. Nearly a week after Voyager‘s arrival in the Delta Quadrant, the Caretaker died, and Captain Janeway was forced to destroy his array to protect the Ocampa—a species that had become completely dependent upon the Caretaker for their survival—from the Kazon, who would surely have taken the technology aboard it for their own purposes. During the battle with the Kazon, the Liberty was destroyed. The Maquis crew was integrated into that of the Voyager shortly thereafter. Janeway granted Chakotay the brevet rank of commander, and he replaced the late Lieutenant Commander Cavit—who had been killed when Voyager was pulled to the Delta Quadrant—as her first officer.^[1] Later that year, Seska was revealed to be a Cardassian spy, planted among the Maquis, when she was caught feeding Voyager‘s technology to the Kazon.^[4]

In late 2371, the crew of Voyager discovered a world populated by Humans, taken in 1937 and forced into slavery by a race called the Briori. The humans had revolted and the Briori had not been heard from since.^[5] In 2372, Chakotay discovered descendants of the Rubber Tree People living in the Delta Quadrant, transplanted there centuries before by their tribe’s gods, the Sky Spirits.^[6] Several weeks later, Chakotay was abducted by Seska, her appearance altered to its original Cardassian features. After he had been tortured and eventually escaped, Seska sent a message informing him that she had impregnated herself with his DNA.^[7]

Also in 2372, Voyager was doubled by a spatial schism. One Voyager sacrificed itself to save the other from a Vidiian attack, resulting in the death of that Voyager‘s Chakotay.^[8] Nearly two months later, Chakotay and Janeway were stung by an alien insect while collecting foodstuffs. While the ship’s EMH was unable to find a cure for their disease, he found it was somehow inhibited by the planet’s atmosphere. After several weeks, Voyager was forced to continue on without them, but soon thereafter returned to the planet—which he and Janeway had named “New Earth”—with Vidiian scientist Danara Pel, who had befriended the Doctor. With her advanced medical knowledge, she was able to find a cure for their disease.^[9] Soon thereafter, Voyager was captured by the Kazon-Nistrim, aided by Seska, and the crew was marooned on a marginal Class-M world.^[10]

In 2373, Tom Paris, the EMH and Lon Suder were able, with the help of a Talaxian convoy, to retake Voyager and rescue the crew.^[11] Also that year, Voyager was involved in a complex causality loop with a thirtieth-century timeship which sent both ships back to late-twentieth-century Earth.^[12] After the causality loop was broken, Voyager was returned to its proper point in spacetime by the same timeship, albeit from a timeline parallel to the first.^[13] Later that year, Chakotay was temporarily assimilated into the Borg Cooperative, a renegade subsect of the Borg Collective relatively friendly to Voyager formed when their cube was disabled insie the Nekrit Expanse, cutting them off from the collective consciousness and disabling their Viniculum.^[14] Months later, Chakotay was involved in the struggle of a Voth scientist to prove his theory that his people had originally evolved on Earth, but were then either transplanted to the Delta Quadrant or had moved of their own accord.^[15]

In 2374, Voyager encountered Borg space. Captain Janeway was able to form a tentative alliance with the Borg, based on knowledge they possessed about a race, which the Collective had labeled Species 8472, which was winning a war against the Borg, and which Janeway considered the greater of two evils.^[16] After the incident was finished, Voyager had separated a drone, Seven of Nine, from the Collective when her cube was destroyed by the aggressive, extradimensional aliens.^[17] Soon thereafter, the Ocampan crew member Kes was forced to leave Voyager when her manifesting abilities endangered the ship.^[18] Later that year, Voyager was able to contact the Alpha Quadrant by sending the Doctor through an alien communications network.^[19] Several weeks later, they received a reply, but some of it was lost when the alien network destabilized and was rendered inoperative. Chakotay received a letter from Sveta, now in a Federation penal colony, informing him that the Maquis had been crushed when the Cardassians united with a Gamma Quadrant power known as the Dominion, against which the Federation and its allies were now fighting a war.^[20]

Also in 2374, Chakotay had a brief relationship with a Remuran tracer named Kellin.^[21] In late 2374, Voyager encountered a being named Arturis, who was determined to destroy them, convinced the ship was responsible for his species being assimilated by the Borg. Janeway and Seven were able to stop him, and they learned of the Quantum Slipstream drive in the process, an advanced form of propulsion similar to Borg transwarp propulsion.^[22]

For the next two months, Voyager passed through a “void” in space, an area that saw absolutely no light. During this time, Janeway retreated into her quarters and Chakotay was forced to take the role of de facto captain.^[24] About a month later, Voyager discovered a Terradome: a training facility used by Species 8472 to duplicate an area that the species planned to infiltrate, in order to perfect their imitations of the people they intended to replace. This Terradome was a re-creation of Starfleet Academy and Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco on Earth. While infiltrating the Terradome, Chakotay encountered 8472 individuals who had taken the forms of Boothby, the Academy’s groundskeeper, and Lieutenant Commander Valerie Archer, with whom Chakotay became romantically involved, despite their dramatically different species.^[25]

Not long after that incident, Voyager attempted to use the Quantum Slipstream drive. Unfortunately, the experiment failed. In an alternate timeline, Voyager crashed on a Class-P planet, killing all aboard, but Chakotay and Harry Kim survived aboard the Delta Flyer. Fifteen years after the pair returned to the Alpha Quadrant, they located the Voyager crash site and, using a Borg transciever in Seven of Nine’s remains, sent a message back in time, preventing the disaster and altering the timeline.^[26]

Also in 2375, Chakotay managed to communicate with an alien species through a simulation of a Boxing match.^[27] Later that year, Voyager encountered another Federation starship, the Nova-class U.S.S. Equinox NCC-72381, which had resorted to genocide in an effort to find a faster method of returning home.^[28] Chakotay nearly relieved Captain Janeway of her command when her attempts to stop the Equinox‘s Captain Ransom began to endanger the ship.^[29]

In 2376, Voyager discovered a centuries-old Human spacecraft, the Aries IV, trapped in a graviton ellipse. The subspace phenomenon had swept through Mars orbit in the early 21st century, scooping up the ship and stranding a team of astronauts on the surface. Chakotay discovered the remains of its pilot, Commander John Kelly, who was still aboard.^[30] Months later, Chakotay was part of a team affected by an alien war memorial, which implanted memories of an atrocity into the minds of visitors, so that the lessons of that war would not be forgotten.^[31] Several months after that, Chakotay temporarily took command of Voyager when Captain Janeway led a mission to infiltrate a Borg vessel.^{[32, 33]}

In 2377, Chakotay found himself traveling through time when Voyager encountered a temporal anomaly. Chakotay encountered Captain Janeway from before her departure on the mission to locate him in the Badlands, Seska from the time when the Kazon had seized Voyager, and even Naomi Wildman and Icheb from an alternate future timeline.^[35], though that proved to be short-lived, ending shortly after Voyager‘s return to the Alpha Quadrant^[37] with the aid of Admiral Janeway from an alternate future timeline.^[34] Following Voyager‘s return to the Federation, Captain Janeway was promoted to admiral, and Chakotay was promoted to captain and given command of Voyager.^[38]

Portrayed by Robert Beltran.