Let’s All Spy on Chakotay

[Sumire]

So this magazine scan showed up on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/timaeuslover00/726302834352668672?source=share And that blurb, “Chakotay's Maquis cell was considered enough of a threat that Starfleet and the Cardassians sent operatives to infiltrate it” really struck me. I’d never thought about that before. Why was Chakotay’s Maquis cell, in particular, infiltrated by both a Cardassian and a Starfleet operative? I haven’t watched every single episode of Voyager and it’s been a long while since I’ve seen some of the episodes I did watch. Is the motivation behind this targeted subterfuge ever revealed?

If it isn’t revealed, why do you, dear reader, think Chakotay’s cell was under so much observation?

 

[Ragitsu]

Perhaps he was in touch with a sympathetic Starfleet individual sufficiently high up the chain of command?

 

[Akiraprise]

Never really thought about that but it is a good point. Why was Chakotay's cell double infiltrated? They never depicted him or his cell as being more fierce than any of the rest of the Maquis we saw on screen. Maybe TPTB had intended for that to be the case and it was another dropped thread because they felt it was too dark for viewers at the time.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I did like in that one episode when Chakotay called that out: “Was anyone on that ship working for me?”

 

[Oddish]

It's possible that Chakotay's OPSEC wasn't that great, which allowed both organizations to find him. Or maybe he was responsible for some high-profile attacks that were in serious danger of causing a resumption of Federation/Cardassian hostilities. Not wanting a war, both organizations made a priority of getting an operative in.

 

[DonIago]

Well, Torres did modify/create Dreadnought and all. Maybe it wasn't so much about Chakotay as it was the people he had working for him.

 

[Oddish]

He also had Suder, who was a homicidal maniac. So maybe Chakotay's problem was that his hiring standards were a bit loose.

 

[Sumire]

Thanks for your thoughtful responses everyone! You bring up good points @DonIago and @Oddish. In thinking about it, I think that may be the reason some fans view Janeway and Chakotay as the mom and dad of Voyager. They both really do get emotionally invested.

They can express this differently, of course. Chakotay’s questionable screening process seems to fit into that “I thought we were in this together” paradigm. The shock and betrayal that arises when those you trust are proven untrustworthy can also be an indicator of sentiment and Janeway’s behavior in Equinox and Thirty Days, in particular, reveals her emotional reaction to disloyalty.

These are people who could definitely make the “I’m not angry, I’m disappointed” line land with devastating effect.

 

[Ragitsu]

I did like in that one episode when Chakotay called that out: “Was anyone on that ship working for me?”

There's an idea: a contemporary "slice of life" comedy where Chakotay and Maquis co. work at a burger joint.

 

[Ragitsu]

Chakotay: the ideal Maquis (hell, he's as close as you can get to a poster boy for the movement).
Eddington: the "realistic"/cynical take on the Maquis.

 

[Summer Solstice]

I think Chakotay was in Starfleet for a long time before joining the Maquis. He probably had a lot of knowledge of strategy, contacts in Starfleet and charisma plus he left Starfleet and joined the Maquis because of his principles and it's very easy to respect someone like that even if you happen to disagree with them. Chakotay was probably deemed to be a big threat because of his likely ability to recruit people into the Maquis and because it was likely that he would end up being in charge of the Maquis.

I agree that Chakotay might be a bit too trusting and not have enough of a screening process for recruits.

 

[DonIago]

I guess that begs the question of what kind of screening process the Maquis could really have in the first place.

 

[Ragitsu]

Do you think they have a HR department?

 

[Avro Arrow]

I guess that begs the question of what kind of screening process the Maquis could really have in the first place.

The cell Ro tried to join in "Preemptive Strike" did actually look into her background, and tried to verify her story with a contact within Starfleet.

I'm sure though, that both Starfleet Intelligence and the Obsidian Order would have the resources necessary to make their operatives' covers look legit. As indeed Starfleet was able to do for Ro.

 

[KelisThePoet]

Chakotay was a highly enough ranked Starfleet officer, himself, before defecting, that the Federation/Starfleet would have a reasonable interest in keeping tabs on him. The Cardassians, not so much, but their society involves more spying and surveillance generally, so they were probably just trying to keep eyes on as many Maquis cells as possible.

There is a kind of preponderance of coincidence in the fact that so many interesting/problematic people ended up on that one Maquis ship, kind of like how so many things wind up on Gilligan's Island, because if your premise is a stranded group of people, you'll run out of stories soon, unless a lot of interesting things coincidentally tag along or pop up. Honestly though, there are bigger coincidences that strain credulity much more, throughout Voyager and Star Trek generally.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

They knew Chakotay was a chilled sort of 'soft touch', making it easier to fill his ship with infiltrators. As long as his crew were doing their jobs, Chaks didn't stress too much or ask lots of questions.

 

[Oddish]

The cell Ro tried to join in "Preemptive Strike" did actually look into her background, and tried to verify her story with a contact within Starfleet.

Funny thing about deep cover operatives like her... you have to have a convincing reason for wanting to join a group to make your cover realistic. Problem is, sometimes that reason is powerful enough to motivate you to join them for real.

 

[Lynx]

Having both a Starfleet spy and a cardassian spy in the cell was obviously more of a coincident, as I see it.

Maybe Chakotay's cell was successful in their missions and therefore attracted the interest from both Cardassians and Starfleet?

But I can agree that Chakotay maybe was a bit naive in his hring of people. He saw the good in them while someone like Eddington would have been more suspicious.

That turned out to be devastating. He didn'tonly have Tuvok and Seska. He also had problems with Jonas and Suder, if not in the Maquis cell so later on with Voyager.

He did have some problems with Paris too back then.

Chakotay: the ideal Maquis (hell, he's as close as you can get to a poster boy for the movement).
Eddington: the "realistic"/cynical take on the Maquis.

For some strange reason I like both of them!

But one thing I often wonder is:

Was there a real Seska?

In the Deep Space Nine episode Second Skin, Kira is kidnapped by Cardassians, her face is altered to a cardassian face and they ty to persuade him that she actually is an Obsidian Order member named Iliana Ghemor who has been altered to take over the identity of Kira in an attempt to infimltrate a Maquis cell. The real Kira is supposed to be dead.

We also had O'Briens old friend Boone who shows up on the station Deep Space Nine in the episode Tribunal. But the real Boone is dead and the person who visits the station is an Obsidian Order agent whose mission is to frame O'Brien.

Of course, this is a plot by the Obsidian Order to discredit Iliana's father Tekeny Ghemor. Kira is no Obsidian Order agent and the real Iliana has disappeared during another mission and is supposed to be dead.

But what if there was a real Seska and the one we saw in Voyager was someone who had taken her identity?

In that case, what happened to the real Seska?
Wouldn't that be something for a future Voyager book?

 

[WarpTenLizard]

I don't know how I never thought of this.

Maybe because Chakotay was a former Starfleet officer? Or maybe he was always kamikazeeing his ships into Cardassian ones. And in "Caretaker" his crew was like "here we go again."

 

[Qonundrum]

Perhaps he was in touch with a sympathetic Starfleet individual sufficiently high up the chain of command?

Or a double-double agent, though that's probably thinking into things too much as this was VOY and not DS9... I think your reason is far better.