Matthew's Star Trek Page

Robert Beltran- Chakotay

Played By: Robert Beltran
Status: Maquis commando and felon
Full Name: Chakotay
Species: Human
Year of birth: 2335
Parents: Son of Kolopak
Education: Starfleet Academy, 2350-54
Marital status: Single

A Native American descendant, this onetime Starfleet lieutenant commander resigned from his position as an instructor in Starfleet's Advanced Tactical Training in 2370 to join the Maquis, sparked by his father's death fighting Cardassians on the tribe's homeworld along the Demilitarized Zone. Chakotay is a gentle man but resolute, and is one of the Maquis who are truly in the fight for principle, not mercenary gain or violent outlet - as was one of his students, Lt. Ro Laren.

Today Chakotay looks to his spiritual Mayan background for inner comfort - and doesn't mind sharing that belief with others, when asked, or even enduring some good-natured ribbing about it from Torres and Paris, among others. He uses a spririt guide summoned by his medicine bundle, prays to speak with his father for guidance, and uses a Mayan-descended medicine wheel for self-healing. With amother suffering from ongoing neck muscle spasms, he is also reportedly an excellent masseuse.

However, he didn't always have such reverence for his ancestors' ways. His father Kolopak was insistent upon finding their peoples' ancestral home and did so in the Central American jungle in 2350, when Chakotay was 15. But the young man had already been casting his lot with Starfleet crews patrolling the border, and stunned his father on that trip with the news he'd be leaving the tribe to attend Starfleet Academy after his newfound aquaintance Captain Sulu agreed to sponsor him at Starfleet Academy, even at his young age. Despite that resistance, Chakotay dis learn many survival skills from his father, such as building log cabins and fire-starting.

Chakotay's piloting skills trace back to extensive and early Starfleet Academy training. From a freshman course over adjacent North America, he went to Venus to master atmospheric storms and had yet another semester dealing with asteroids in the Sol asteroid belt.

The virtual estrangement between father and son lasted until 2371 when Kolopak died defending his home in the early days of Cardassian harassment, even as the final border treaty was being signed. Chakotay took to wearing his tattoo, a symbol of those jungle descendants, to honor his father, who wore it also; even his own name is a cherished gift from his tribe. Later Chakotay reported considering archeology as a second occupation, either in the field or in academics.

Chakotay's people, tracing their lineage back past Mayans to the Rubber Tree People of Central America, resisted the intrusion of more technological societies until the devleopment of warp drive in the 21st century allowed them to leave Earth and find their own home for good. One 20th century forebear he knows of was a schoolteacher in Arizona.

Even today its members avoid modern devices such as transporters wherever they can, and he was taught that nothing is personally owned save the courage and loyalty in one's own heart. Despite his tribe's move, the adult Chakotay means Earth when he thinks of "home" - from the Arizona desert and the Baja California peninsula over to the Gulf of Mexico.

Known members of Chakotay's Maquis crew include B'Elanna Torres, Lon Suder, Kurt Bendera, Kenneth Dalby, Mariah Henley, (First Name Unknown) Ayala, (FNU) Hogan, (FNU) Jackson; Bajoran nationals Seska, Gerron and Jarvin; and a Bolian, Chell.

With an undercover agent from the crew of Captain Kathryn Janeway aboard, Chakotay's craft disappeared in the Badlands a week before Janeway's new U.S.S. Voyager itself was lost on SD 48307.5 and presumed destroyed.

File Update: Delta Quadrant Addendum Appended by Capt. Kathryn Janeway, U.S.S. Voyager

The former Maquis leader has had his share of pains before: the revelation that Tuvok was Janeway's spy; the death of Kurt Bendera in a Kazon battle, after he'd helped in out in a brawl on Telfas Prime; and the defection of his former lover Seska - whom he's further shocked to realize was a Cardassian spy all along in his Maquis crew, and who continues to manipulate that guilt.

Despite such trials, and his Maquis sympathies, Chakotay's own moral courage rings out as strongly as mine when the chips are down - and it is to his credit that he has accepted my command and enforced the embracing of Starfleet ways among his old crew fully and with vigor, including assuming equal discipline - and, I've heard, a right cross if necessary. And I am especially indebted that he convinced me to gamble on his nominee for chief engineer - although I must take the blame in overriding my convictions in seeking an alliance with the Trabe or Kazon as he'd suggested.

The convictions of both his people and Starfleet served him well when keeping his life and dealing with the Kazon boy Kar and his elders - and putting his own safety on the line to fake his death, saving Kar's naming honor. He apparently has more than one medicine bundle made up, or else he thought to take it with him in the rush to beam out with Kar.

Chakotay had seemed to be on the way to mending fences with Tom Paris when our ruse that couldn't include the commander had to be hatched to trap our Maquis informant to Seska; I know he was not only annoyed at the act but miffed that he was left out of the loop, but it did further the performance beautifully.

Checkout review update, Kathryn Janeway, SD 50100:

Seska is dead. Having secured our vessel once and for all from the recent short-lived Kazon take-over, I note not only Chakotay's heroics in securing our planetside position with the suspicious but sentient natives, but also his mixed mood in learning that Seska's child, presumed to be his, proved not to be. I only trust that Seska's demise will allow the commander to leave this phase of his life behind without guilt and manipulation.

Personal addenda, Level 1 classification, for SFC eyes only:
I write this after having spent six weeks quaratined alone with the commander on an immunizing Class M planet under threat of carrying a viral epidemic to the crew. While personal log are not the purview of this file entry, I feel compelled to comment on Chakotay's survival skills and his commitment to easing our personal burdens alone, before we had any hope of seeing our ship again. We likely have a long journey ahead of us, and I feel somehow invigorated that he and I have fostered such a smooth relationship. Where our personal feelings lie beyond that is an issue that must not interfere with crew safety and security, but there are times when I believe the commander, depite his best effort, gets downright jealous or giddy. --KJ