SPECIAL FRIENDS AND/OR ENEMIES

[#11 State Of Flux] [#27 Maneuvers] [Basics]

Seska, Chakotay's former lover, turned out to be a Cardassian agent who had been surgically altered to look Bajoran in order to infiltrate the Maquis. She escaped to the Kazon-Nistrim, became the lover of their First Maje, Jal Culluh, and the pair became particular enemies of Voyager. Seska masterminded the attack against Voyager in [#27 Maneuvers] in which a Federation transporter module was stolen; its possession was to be used to help Culluh unite the Kazon factions with himself at their head. Chakotay went after the transporter module alone; he was captured and tortured in Seska's presence. She took a DNA sample from him and informed Chakotay that she had impregnated herself with the DNA. She bore a son whom she thought was Chakotay's, and successfully used the son to lure Voyager into a trap so that the Nistrim could seize the ship [Basics].

[#11 State Of Flux] [#27 Maneuvers] [Basics]

When Captain Janeway recruited Tom Paris for the mission to the Badlands to find Chakotay and Tuvok, in [#1 and #2 Caretaker], Paris told Janeway that Paris did not like him because he was a mercenary. Chakotay was not at all pleased to find Paris on board, but on the Ocampa homeworld Paris saved Chakotay's life when Chakotay's leg was broken and the stairway they were climbing to escape to the planet surface was about to collapse down the shaft. Paris insisted on rescuing him, because he said it was a tradition among Chakotay's people that if did so, Chakotay's life would belong to him. Chakotay replied, with some humour, "Wrong tribe." Later Janeway told Paris he had a protector - Chakotay.

Aboard Voyager, Chakotay became a devoted first officer to Captain Kathryn Janeway. They became close during the weeks they were stranded on a planet in Vidiian space they named New Earth. They became infected with a virus but something in the planet's atmosphere protected them from the virus' effects, but it meant they could not leave. Janeway sent Voyager on her way, and she and Chakotay started a new life together, although she undertook scientific research to try and find a cure for the virus.

Janeway: "I think we need to define some parameters, about us." Chakotay: "I'm not sure I can define 'parameters', but I can tell you a story, an ancient legend among my people."

Chakotay: "It's about an angry warrior who lived his life in conflict with the rest of his tribe, a man who couldn't find peace even with the help of his spirit-guide. For years he struggled with his discontent. But the only satisfaction he ever got when he was in battle. This made him a hero among his tribe, but the warrior still longed for peace within himself. One day he and his war party were captured by a neighbouring tribe, led by a woman warrior. She called on him to join her because her tribe was too small and weak to defend itself from all its enemies. The woman warrior was brave and beautiful, and very wise. The angry warrior swore to himself he would stay by her side, doing whatever he could to make their burden lighter her needs would come first and in that way the warrior began to know the true meaning of peace."

Janeway: "Is that really an ancient legend?" Chakotay: "No, but that made it easier to say."

A moment of great closeness.

[Coda]

Chakotay's fondness for Janeway became clear in [Coda] when Janeway lay very close to death after their shuttlecraft crashlanded on a planet. Their closeness together with their affection for each other is constantly evident.

[#83 Hunters]

B'Elanna Torres served under Chakotay in the Maquis and on his recommendation Janeway made her chief engineer on Voyager over Joe Carey the next Starfleet officer in line [#3 Parallax].

[#3 Parallax]

[#23 Parturition] Chakotay and Torres wear the collar badge of Maquis rank with their Starfleet uniforms

In [#97 Extreme Risk] Chakotay had the unpleasant task of telling her that all their Maquis friends had been slaughtered in the Alpha Quadrant. Chakotay also forced Torres back onto the uncomfortable path of recovering from that loss.

Chakotay persuades Torres to accompany him to the holodeck. Once there he orders the computer to run holodeck program 'Torres Zeta One'. Torres realises which program it is and struggles as Chakotay drags her onto the holodeck. A massacre is occurring. Both know what it is - it is the slaughter of the Maquis, including friends Le Paz, Myer, Nelson and Sareen. Chakotay: "You created a holodeck program to watch all our Maquis friends get slaughtered. What I want to know is, why?" Torres: "I thought we came down here to talk about safety protocols. This has nothing to do with that." Chakotay: "I'm not so sure. The logs show you ran this program for only 47 seconds, the day after you got the news about the massacre, then you shut it down and started running the most dangerous programs you could find with the safeties off. Why?" Torres: "This is ridiculous. I'm leaving." Chakotay: "Computer, seal the doors." Torres: "You can't do this!" Chakotay: "The hell I can't! You're not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on. B'Elanna, why are you intentionally trying to hurt yourself?" Torres: "I don't know." Chakotay: "Are you trying to commit suicide?" Torres: "No." Chakotay: "Then why?" Torres: "Because...because if I sprain my ankle at least I feel something." Chakotay: "What do you mean?" Torres: "I'm not trying to kill myself. I'm trying to see if I'm still alive!" Chakotay: "I don't understand." Torres: "When you look at those corpses, how do you feel?" Chakotay: "Sad, angry, maybe a little guilty that I wasn't there to die with them." Torres: "Not me, I don't feel anything at all." Chakotay: "B'Elanna, the Maquis were like our adopted family. I can understand you trying to block out that kind of pain." Torres: "You don't understand. It's not just the pain. I don't feel anything, not about my dead friends, not about Tom, you, my job." Chakotay: "Maybe if you're afraid that if you let yourself start to feel something you might not be able to stop. You can't just shut off your emotions, B'Elanna. Sooner or later you're going to have to let yourself grieve." Torres: "Why? Just so I can go through it all over again?" Chakotay: "What are you talking about?" Torres: "When I was six my father walked out on me. When I was nineteen I got kicked out of Starfleet. A few years later I got separated from the Maquis. And just when I start to feel safe, you tell me that all of our old friends have been slaughtered. The way I figure it, I've lost the only family I ever had." Chakotay: "B'Elanna, you have a new family now, here on Voyager. You're not going to lose us. You're stuck with us." Torres: "You can't promise me that." Chakotay: "No, I suppose I can't. Losing people's inevitable, and sometimes it happens sooner than we expect, but I can promise you that the people on this ship aren't about to let you stop living your life or break your neck. You're going to have to find another way to deal with this." Torres: "I don't know how." Chakotay: "Then we'll figure it out, together."