Summary
- Admiral Janeway keeps Chakotay's river stone as a connection to him in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2.
- The spiral symbol in Janeway's artifact guides the search for Chakotay across space and time.
- The CHAH-mooz-ee stone represents healing and connects Chakotay to his ancestors in Star Trek lore.
In Star Trek: Prodigy, Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) keeps a cherished artifact from Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran) that originated in Star Trek: Voyager. Besides Star Trek: Prodigy characters from Voyager like Janeway, Chakotay, and the Doctor (Robert Picardo) in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, Easter eggs for Star Trek: Voyager fans are littered throughout Star Trek: Prodigy. One of the Star Trek: Voyager objects in Janeway's Prodigy ready room on the USS Voyager-A is important not just to the relationship between Janeway and Chakotay, but also to the time and space that stretches between them in Star Trek: Prodigy.
Star Trek: Prodigy is, itself, a spiritual successor to Star Trek: Voyager that takes place fourteen years after the USS Voyager was originally swept away to the Delta Quadrant. After the USS Voyager's return home to Earth, Captain Chakotay embarks on a return trip to the Delta Quadrant on the USS Protostar with the intention of revisiting the worlds Voyager made first contact with. But Chakotay and the original Protostar crew are lost in time before they're able to begin their follow-up mission. After Captain Chakotay is lost with the USS Protostar, Admiral Janeway keeps Chakotay's river stone as a reminder that Chakotay is still out there, somewhere.
Chakotay Gave Captain Janeway A Spiral Stone Artifact in Star Trek: Voyager
The CHAH-mooz-ee River Stone Has Spiritual Significance To Chakotay
In Star Trek: Voyager, Commander Chakotay gives Captain Janeway a palm stone carved with a spiral crossed by two lines, or a CHAH-mooz-ee symbol. In Star Trek: Voyager season 1, episode 6, "The Cloud", shortly after the USS Voyager becomes lost in the Delta Quadrant, Chakotay helps Janeway seek out an animal guide to help her on the new mission to get back home to the Alpha Quadrant. As an important part of Chakotay's medicine bundle, the spiral-carved river stone connects Janeway to the physical plane while Janeway is on her spiritual journey, as the stone has done for Chakotay and his ancestors.
The stone's spiral represents healing and gratitude and forms the basis of Chakotay's tattoo.
In Star Trek: Prodigy, Captain Chakotay gives Admiral Janeway the CHAH-mooz-ee river stone again, shortly before the first flight of Chakotay's USS Protostar. The stone has survived through multiple generations of Chakotay's family, so it connects Chakotay to the memory of his ancestors, thanks to the power associated with the CHAH-mooz-ee symbol itself. The stone's spiral represents healing and gratitude and forms the basis of Chakotay's tattoo. Just like the stone acting as a tether to the physical plane, Chakotay hopes that his family heirloom will connect Chakotay to Janeway while Chakotay is on the Protostar's Delta Quadrant mission, like a beacon that can guide Chakotay back home.
Admiral Janeway's Spiral Stone Represents Chakotay In Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2
The Spiral Is A Symbol That Guides The Search For Chakotay
In the first half of Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, the symbol from Admiral Janeway's spiral stone artifact represents Captain Chakotay, and specifically the quest to locate Chakotay after being lost in space and time. The image of the CHAH-mooz-ee turns up as a coded message that Dal R'El (Brett Gray), Gwyndala (Ella Purnell), and their fellow cadets are on the right track. After receiving messages from the cadets' mysterious guide, Murf (Dee Bradley Baker) is compelled to arrange items in a spiral. Gwyn sees the spiral firsthand as a shape in space, after adjusting the frequency of her quantum stabilizer to match numbers from their "magical mystery friend."
The very same spiral was found on a Delta Quadrant moon in Star Trek: Voyager season 2, episode 9, "Tattoo", indicating a connection between Chakotay and the aliens known as Sky Spirits, who visited Chakotay's ancestors. Unable to communicate with them conventionally, Chakotay used the CHAH-mooz-ee symbol to indicate goodwill.
While the coordinates don't take the Prodigy kids directly to Chakotay as they had hoped, following the instructions that accompany the spiral guideposts does lead them to the person who sent them, Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton). Wesley's Traveler powers ensure that Star Trek: Prodigy's cadets follow the signs to fulfill Wesley's plan to bring Captain Chakotay home and fix the unraveling timeline. Using the spiral as a symbol to represent Chakotay in Star Trek: Prodigy means that Admiral Janeway's CHAH-mooz-ee spiral stone really is a beacon that guides Captain Chakotay home, across space and time, to reunite with Admiral Janeway.
