ancestral home in Central America and the descendants of the Rubber Tree People. He was resistant to this, and instead dreamed of going into space and had heroes such as John Kelly, a pioneering astronaut in the early 21st century. He chose to enter Starfleet Academy against his father's wishes, and his entry was sponsored by Captain Sulu.[A] He attended Starfleet Academy from 2344 to 2348, where he engaged in the sport of boxing. After graduating, he was assigned to a starship. One of his earliest away missions resulted in a diplomatic incident on Ktaria VII, and he was also on the team that made first contact with the Tarkannans. He was assigned as an instructor in Starfleet's Advanced Tactical Training and achieved the rank of lieutenant commander. Following the death of his father in 2368 while defending his colony from the Cardassians, Chakotay resigned his Starfleet commission and joined the Maquis. At the time of his resignation, one of his students was Ro Laren. After he joined the Maquis, he became captain of a vessel named the Val Jean, with a crew which among others included his lover Seska (Martha Hackett), B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson), and Tuvok (Tim Russ), who was actually Captain Janeway's Chief of Security, on an undercover mission to infiltrate the Maquis. Star Trek: Voyager The Kazon and Seska In the pilot episode of Voyager, while the crew on the Val Jean seek to evade a Cardassian vessel captained by Gul Evek (Richard Poe) in the Badlands, the vessel is transported some 70,000 light years across the galaxy into the Delta Quadrant by the creature known as the Caretaker. After the Federation starship USS Voyager is also trapped in the Delta Quadrant and Tuvok was revealed to be a Starfleet agent, Chakotay agrees with Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) to work together to find two of their missing crew. Following an attack by the Kazon, Chakotay destroyed the Val Jean to save Voyager and the Maquis crew joined the Federation ship. Chakotay was given a provisional rank of commander and named executive officer, the second-in-command of the vessel and the crew seeks to return home to the Alpha Quadrant. The Kazon continue to be a hindrance during Voyager initial period in the Delta Quadrant, with Chakotay dismayed in "State of Flux" when Seska is revealed as a Cardassian spy who has been providing technology to the