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Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow: The following content contains spoilers!
For the mirror universe counterpart, see Chakotay (mirror).
This article is about Chakotay in the prime timeline. You may be looking for Chakotay in the First Splinter timeline.

Chakotay was a Human Starfleet officer and Maquis leader in the 24th century. Chakotay served as first officer of the Federation starship USS Voyager during that vessel's harrowing seven-year journey in the Delta Quadrant.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Chakotay was born on Trebus in 2329, the son of a man named Kolopak and a woman named Tananka. By the age of 6, Chakotay wanted to go against his family traditions and be a paleontologist. (VOY novel: Pathways; VOY episode: "One Small Step"; VOY novel: Old Wounds)

Young Chakotay also had an independent nature, and often went exploring on Trebus. In 2341, Chakotay raided a junkyard on the planet and became trapped in the wreckage of an old shuttle pod; fortunately, he was later rescued. (VOY novelization: Equinox)

Despite his independent nature, in 2344 and 2345, Chakotay accompanied his father to Central America on Earth to visit the homelands of their ancestors. During his time there Chakotay learned of the Sky Spirits and began to respect his cultural heritage. (VOY novel: Pathways; VOY episode: "Tattoo")

In 2345, 15-year-old Chakotay was seriously considering entering Starfleet, and often spent time around the Starfleet personnel on the planet, led by Captain Demora Sulu. Sulu sponsored Chakotay's applications into the Academy, but Chakotay had to lie to his father and state that Captain Sulu was a man in order to protect his feelings. (VOY - Tales from the Captain's Table short story: "Seduced")

The novel Pathways suggest that Chakotay's entrance into the Academy was sponsored by Hiromi Sulu, grandson of Hikaru Sulu, while other sources suggest that it was Hikaru himself that sponsored him, or even Hikaru's daughter Demora Sulu. [citation needed]

Service in Starfleet[]

Starfleet Academy[]

Thanks to the sponsorship of Captain Sulu, Chakotay entered Starfleet Academy in late 2347. During his first few weeks at the Academy he became friends with Svetlana "Sveta" Korepanova from Ekaterinburg, Russia. He also became unlikely friends with his late-assigned roommate, an unflappably cheerful Bolian named Chert.

At the end of his first year at the Academy, Chakotay considered leaving, and returned to Trebus to undergo his first vision quest using the akoonah. 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 after, Chakotay underwent training on Venus, and later underwent training for a semester in the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter. (VOY episodes: "Future's End, Part II", "Blink of an Eye")

Also during his time at the Academy, Chakotay became a proficient light-heavyweight boxer, and scored a record of 23 wins and only one loss, which was to a Nausicaan. (VOY episodes: "The Fight", "Tsunkatse")

The Chakotay article at Startrek.com gives 2344-2348 as the years of his attendance at Starfleet Academy.

Early career[]

Chakotay graduated from the Academy in 2351. By 2353 he served aboard the USS Vico, as an aide to Captain Roger Hackney and held the rank of lieutenant. It was aboard the Vico that Chakotay had his first encounter with a Cardassian warship that had violated the Federation border. (VOY novel: Pathways)

At some point, Chakotay began serving on the USS Heritage. A female officer named Grant was the first officer. During this time, Chakotay and Grant began a romantic relationship, one which Grant noted in Chakotay's Starfleet file. In 2375, the crew of the USS Voyager held a "roast" of Chakotay for his birthday. Parts of his Starfleet record were read aloud, including Grant's note about their relationship. (VOY short story: "Isabo's Shirt")

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

By 2368, Lieutenant commander Chakotay was serving aboard the USS Gettysburg, under the command of Captain Madolyn Gordon. (VOY novel: Pathways)

In March that year, Chakotay decided to resign his commission, so upon his return to Earth he handed his resignation into Admiral Nimembeh at Starfleet Headquarters. He returned home to Trebus. (VOY episode: "In the Flesh")

Since a canon source (VOY episode: "In the Flesh") establishes that Chakotay left Starfleet on March 3, 2368, it is unclear how he became involved with the Maquis. In the novel Pathways he leaves Starfleet after the Demilitarized Zone was formally established, but that did not take place until 2370. However, given the unsettled border situation (especially from a civilian standpoint, considering some settled worlds had been conceded to the Cardassians) in the years before the formal establishment of the DMZ, it's likely the beginnings of the Maquis were forming even then. Even so, precisely what Chakotay was doing between 2368 and 2370 is still unspecified. Thus, the events of Pathways are presented below as taking place in 2370, but an altered version of them could have happened earlier than that. It is also implied in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion that Chakotay was one of the teachers of the Advanced Tactical Training at Starfleet Academy, that his sympathies were towards the Maquis, and that he resigned to join them.

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. One of his first contacts in the Maquis is a Bajoran woman named Seska, who Chakotay became very close to. A few weeks later, Chakotay rescued B'Elanna Torres from a Bolian 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 aboard the Liberty. (VOY book Pathways, VOY episode: "In the Flesh")

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 torpedo to attack a Cardassian planet. (VOY episode: "Dreadnought")

ChakotayMaquis

Chakotay, commander of the Val Jean in 2371.

A few weeks later, the Liberty was destroyed, but all crewmembers managed to survive. Shortly after, his team managed to salvage an old fighter from a Federation surplus depot and they name the ship Geronimo. The Geronimo herself was lost in 2371, after she was destroyed by Tharia ch'Ren, a former crewmember who had seized control of the third Malkus Artifact. Thankfully, Chakotay and his crew were rescued by Cal Hudson. (VOY - The Brave and the Bold, Book Two novella: The Third Artifact)

Following this event, Chakotay was given command of the Peregrine-class fighter Spartacus. In early 2371, the Spartacus discovered the plague-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. (TNG - Double Helix novel: Quarantine)

A few weeks later, Chakotay assumed command of a Ju'day-class fighter, the Val Jean. He was to lead a large Maquis task force from the base on the Terikof belt to attacked 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 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 savor his victory, as shortly after his vessel was hit by a displacement wave created by the Caretaker, to carry them off to the Delta Quadrant. (VOY - The Brave and the Bold, Book Two novella: The Third Artifact; VOY episode: "Caretaker")

Aboard the USS Voyager[]

In the Delta Quadrant[]

Chakotay, 2377

Commander Chakotay in 2377.

Shortly after their arrival in the Delta Quadrant, Chakotay and his crew were transported to the Caretaker's Array, and examined for the viability to act as the Caretaker's successor. Three weeks later, the USS Voyager was transported to the quadrant and was similarly examined. For the sake of finding a way to return to the Alpha Quadrant, Chakotay teamed up with Captain Kathryn Janeway. In the battle with the Kazon around the Array, Chakotay sacrificed the Val Jean to destroy the lead Kazon ship, and he and his crew beamed over to Voyager. 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. (VOY episode: "Caretaker").

Initially, Chakotay had a difficult job of trying to merge his former crew to the crew of Voyager. In the first weeks, B'Elanna Torres and Joe Carey were competing for the chief engineer's job, which at one point came to punches. The situation was resolved and Torres became chief engineer. Several of his former crew had immense problems assimilating, and upon Chakotay's suggestion, they underwent a crash course in Academy training from Lieutenant Tuvok. (VOY episodes: "Parallax", "Learning Curve")

Return to Earth[]

Chakotay2377

Chakotay in 2377.

Chakotay finally returned to Earth at the end of 2377 when Voyager traveled inside a Borg sphere through a transwarp conduit into the Alpha Quadrant. (VOY episode: "Endgame")

Chakotay became captain of the prototype starship, USS Protostar. Chakotay and the Protostar's crew had dissapeared by the year 2383 when the Protostar was found on Tars Lamora. (PRD episode: "Kobayashi")

25th century[]

In a 2385 interview with Jake Sisko, Annika Hansen said that Captain Chakotay was one of the people who inspired her to join Starfleet because of their "honor and competence." When asked whether she maintained contact with him, Hansen responded that she did not understand the question's relevance.

By 2401, Chakotay has reached the rank of admiral. He was one of a few Starfleet officers that asked the Federation Council to reconsider the decision not to get involved in the Klingon-Gorn War. He predicted a long war in the future and the Klingons were right about the Undine threat.

He participated in the 2404 opening of the Alpha Centauri system transwarp hub. Two years later, Chakotay was promoted to head of Starfleet Intelligence. He promised more accountability and to be open in the posting. One of his earliest briefings involved him admitting the belief that at least 30 Undine infiltrators were in high-level posts and Starfleet. (ST website : The Path to 2409)

Alternate timelines[]

In an alternate timeline in which the USS Voyager was forced to turn back from its journey home to Earth, Chakotay became a statesman in the Vostigye Union. He and Kathryn Janeway became lovers and would eventually have a child, Shannon Sekaya Janeway. (VOY - Myriad Universes - Infinity's Prism novella: Places of Exile)

In an alternate timeline created by Wesley Crusher in which the Maquis never existed, Chakotay did not resign his Starfleet commission and was serving as the first officer of the USS Lakota under Captain Erika Benteen in 2373. (TNG short story: "Gods, Fate, and Fractals")

In another alternate timeline, Chakotay became the captain of Voyager after Janeway was killed in a Krenim attack in 2373. He was still in command of the ship in 2379. (VOY episode: "Before and After")

Starfleet service record[]

location assignment dates rank or rate assignment insignia rank insignia
Starfleet Academy student officer 2347-2351 cadet Assignment badge. Collar insignia.
USS Vico captain's aide 2350s lieutenant Collar insignia.
USS Heritage
USS Gage 2362-2366 Collar insignia.
Extended leave of absence
USS Gettysburg first officer until 2368 lieutenant commander Collar insignia.
Resigned, joins the Maquis 2368-2371 Rank and position revoked
USS Voyager first officer 2371-2377 lieutenant commander (provisional) Assignment badge. Collar insignia.
USS Protostar commanding officer circa 2370s/2380s captain Uniform collar rank insignia image.

Appendices[]

Connections[]

Val Jean personnel
AyalaKurt BenderaKendrick BiessmanChakotayChellMitch CsatlosKenneth DalbyGerron RalMariah HenleyHoganWilliam JarvinMichael JonasKenn LathropTelsia MurphyJeffrey NelsonSeskaLon SuderB'Elanna TorresTrexisTuvok Maquis
USS Voyager senior staff personnel
commanding officer JanewayChakotayEdenTuvok executive officer CavitChakotayEllisParis Seal of the Federation Starfleet.
second officer TuvokParisKim chief engineer HonigsbergTorresVorikConlon
chief medical officer FitzgeraldThe DoctorJarem KazSharak counselor AstallCambridge
operations manager KimCampbellLasren science officer WildmanPatel
security chief/tactical officer TuvokKim flight controller StadiParisTareGwyn
see also: engineering personnelmedical personneloperations personnelpilots & flight control personnelsecurity & tactical personnelsciences personnelother personnel
USS Protostar personnel
Federation icon image. ChakotayDal R'ElGwynJankom PogMurfRok-TahkZeroKathryn Janeway Delta Quadrant icon image.

Background[]

  • Even though he is always referred to as a commander during his tenure as Voyager's first officer, Chakotay wore the provisional rank of lieutenant commander. (VOY episode: "Caretaker")

Appearances and references[]

Appearances[]

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2383

References[]

External link[]

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