Matthew MacTavish

Matthew MacTavish was a Starfleet officer who served on board the USS Livingston as chief engineer.

MacTavish entered Starfleet Academy in 2344, where he met his eventual best friend, Cadet Chakotay when they were assigned as roomates. MacTavish began studying engineering, with the hopes of becoming chief engineer on a Federation starship one day. He drove himself to complete the Academy, after he failed many tests and he became discouraged. Chakotay, a rising star at the Academy, helped MacTavish with his homework, teaching him warp theory and dilithium applications. MacTavish then became head of his class in the engineering department, earning honors in warp plasma theory. In 2348, MacTavish graduated and was assigned to the USS Merrimack with the rank of Ensign.

MacTavish spent several years on the Merrimack, even when Chakotay transferred off the ship in 2355. Three years later, Chakotay was promoted to Commander and gave MacTavish a break by requesting him as chief engineer on the USS Livingston. The ship's Captain, Grady Howard agreed with Chakotay and promoted him from Lieutenant Junior Grade to Lieutenant. MacTavish transferred on the ship in 2358 and served with Chakotay once again. During the first few months, MacTavish had to replace the entire engineering room after most of it was destroyed in a plasma storm. During the refit, a crewmember, Chief Deon Bennett became trapped in engineering after closing the inadvertently closing the isolation door. MacTavish was able to beam in and rescue Bennett before he died of warp plasma poisoning. In 2368, Chakotay learned of his father's death at the hand of the Cardassians. Chakotay decided to return to Earth to officially resign his commission. MacTavish tried to convince him otherwise, but Chakotay held firm.

While still serving as chief engineer, MacTavish recieved an encoded transmission from Chakotay. Chakotay revealed that he had joined the terrorist group, the Maquis, and asked MacTavish for help to evade Federation starships. MacTavish, at first, refused, but Chakotay asked him to help him as a friend. MacTavish then gave Chakotay all information about Federation ships patrolling the Cardassian DMZ. Two weeks later, Captain Howard and his security chief on the Livingston discovered MacTavish's transmissions to Chakotay. He was held in the ship's brig until he could be tried for court-martial at the nearest starbase. MacTavish's lawyer was Samuel T. Cogley, Jr. At the proceedings, Cogley argued that MacTavish's time as a soldier during the Cardassian Wars in the 2350s and his good behavior during his Starfleet career should be taken into account during his sentencing. The judge decided to demote MacTavish to a senior chief petty officer and sentence him to three years in prison under maximum security for his punishment in 2369. In 2372, MacTavish was released from the New Zealand detention center, where he began a new career as a chief.

His first duty as a senior chief petty officer entailed scrubbing a Federation garbage scow's plasma conduit for months in deep space under strict supervision by a security guard. In 2373, MacTavish learned that Chakotay had disappeared in 2371 in the Badlands and the ship sent to find him, the USS Voyager had also vanished. MacTavish was devastated. During the Dominion War, Chief MacTavish served on Earth, scanning for rogue Dominion ships possibly approaching Earth. MacTavish was later killed during the Breen sneak attack on San Francisco in 2375.