When I leave this planet
You know I'd stay but I just can't stand it
And I can feel the warning signs
Running around my mind
- Chakotay - pre-series -
Having the Cardassians there was ruining the feel of Dorvan V. He knew it, his family knew it, the community knew it, and yet, most of them stayed.
He was vehemently against the Cardassian Peace Treaty; it wasn't really a treaty at all, just an excuse to shut up the race that had been driven off Bajor and needed new planets to plunder.
He knew having them there would be a bad idea, and from the moment they materialised on the surface, in the middle of the town common area, weapons raised, his worst fears were confirmed.
It was only by sheer dumb luck that he managed to survive the initial 'festivities', as the Cardassians called it. The mass murder their new oppressors committed was horrendous, and he was more and more thankful every day he managed to survive. It was only by a scheduling conflict that he was even on Dorvan V in the first place.
He resigned his commission and joined the Maquis the first chance he had, the first Maquis crew he came across.
He told himself it was to avenge his father, his mother, his childhood friends. He tried not to think about the sister he left behind, the revulsion that was the Cardassians that Sekaya had to deal with.
Whatever helps you sleep at night.
So, when he left the planet he called home for so many years growing up, he knew the next time he returned, if he ever did, it wouldn't be the same.
Nothing ever was the same after the Cardassians came through and made their mark.
Bajor was evidence of that.
So, when he left the planet, the warning signs and precedence running through his mind, he knew he had to do something to help.
Or, something to protest.
Whatever helps you sleep at night.
