Ayala Ayala was a Maquis who served as Chakotay ' s right - hand man aboard the raider " Val Jean " . When he became stranded in the Delta Quadrant aboard the Starfleet vessel , he joined its crew as a security officer . He returned to the Alpha Quadrant with " Voyager " in 2378 . ( ) History . The Maquis . In 2371 , Ayala was a member of Chakotay ' s crew aboard the " Val Jean " . When Gul Evek ' s ship , the " Vetar " , attacked the Maquis vessel in the Badlands , he attempted to make repairs to the bridge . After the " Val Jean " was transported to the Delta Quadrant by the ' s array , Ayala was brought aboard the array for testing by the Caretaker , then returned to the " Val Jean " unharmed . He later boarded " Voyager " along with Chakotay and Tuvok at Captain Kathryn Janeway ' s invitation . When it was revealed that Tuvok was a spy for the Federation , Ayala attempted to attack him , but was held back by Chakotay . He was issued a compression phaser rifle and beam ed to the array with an away team to scout for Harry Kim and B ' Elanna Torres with Tuvok , but was soon returned to " Voyager " by the Caretaker . The " Val Jean " was later destroyed after it rammed a Kazon carrier vessel , and the Maquis were forced to join " Voyager " s crew for the journey home . ( ) Ayala was transported aboard " Voyager " with B ' Elanna Torres and at least two other Maquis crew . In an alternate timeline created several years later by a spatial rift , he was trapped in the transporter room with the Maquis . Chakotay , who originated from the time period where " Voyager " encountered the rift , injected Torres and Ayala with a chroniton - infused serum which allowed them to move between the time periods , to retake main engineering from Seska . This alternate timeline was later erased when a chroniton field brought " Voyager " back into temporal sync . ( ) Life on " Voyager " . Ayala was given provisional rank of lieutenant junior grade , initially in the engineering and operations division s , but eventually in security . ( ) He was generally assigned to the bridge as a relief tactical officer . ( ) He also served as operations officer at various points in 2371 and 2372 . ( ) Ayala was left in command of the bridge when the ship was affected by a distortion ring being . ( ) The bridge . In 2372 , Tuvix , an individual created after a transporter accident fused Tuvok and Neelix together , tried to gather support from " Voyager " bridge crew , including Ayala , after Captain Janeway decided to restore Tuvok and Neelix . His pleading went unanswered . ( ) Later that year , Ayala was stranded on Hanon IV when the Kazon took control of the ship . ( ) He was initially part of Chakotay ' s team , searching for food and water . Along with Lieutenant Torres , Ayala created a diversion to lure the Hanonian s away from the cave in which several " Voyager " crew members were trapped . ( ) He manned an aft station when the " Voyager " traveled back into the year 1996 , faced Henry Starling and Captain Braxton , and when the ship entered Borg space in 2373 and made First contact with Species 8472 . ( ) He was working on the bridge when Captain Janeway pilot ed the ship into a binary pulsar to protect her crew from the Srivani experiment s , in 2374 . He also replaced Tuvok at the tactical station while the chief of security carried out an investigation on the Mari homeworld . ( ) Later that year , Ayala was on duty on the bridge when the " Voyager " made contact with a Krenim patrol ship . " Due to the temporal incursion s of the Krenim weapon ship , Ayala went into an alternate timeline in which the " Voyager " was heavily damaged by a Krenim warship . In this timeline , Ayala worked as relief tactical officer until he was replaced by Tuvok who suffered from blindness . " ( ) Ayala was also working on the bridge when Commander Chakotay received the first letter from the Alpha Quadrant through the Hirogen communications network in late - 2374 . He was one of the excited bridge crew hoping to receive a message from home . When Tuvok and Seven of Nine boarded the shuttlecraft " Cochrane II " for an away mission to the Hirogen relay station , Ayala worked as relief tactical officer during the confrontation with a Hirogen warship . ( ) In 2375 , while Lieutenant Commander Tuvok was missing with an away team aboard the " Delta Flyer " , Lieutenant Ayala served as acting tactical officer . With the crew at continuous work to find the away team , Captain Janeway asked him to contact the Beta team on the surface , as they had not reported in for an hour . At the same time , Neelix also offered the bridge crew some coffee , of which Ayala accepted a cup . ( ) In 2376 , He was standing on the bridge in the background next to the console , when the Captain Kathryn Janeway went to the station to speak with Harry Kim . Ayala was also on the bridge when the Pathfinder Project established real - time communication with " Voyager " , and he attended the party in the mess hall following the historic event . He was also manning the bridge when another command division officer walked to his station . ( ) By 2378 , shortly before " Voyager " returned to Earth , Ayala had switched to the command division , and was assigned to the conn . ( ) Ayala was working at the Mission Ops I station on the bridge when " Voyager " returned to Earth in 2378 . ( ) Security detail . Ayala took part in several away team missions as a security guard . ( ) He was occasionally assigned to guard prisoners in the brig , such as when the captain confronted Seska ( ) or Lon Suder , ( ) Seven of Nine , ( ) Dala , ( ) and Gar . ( ) Ayala also escorted guests aboard " Voyager " to sensitive areas such as the bridge or the briefing room . ( ) In 2374 , he was one of the security officers who guarded a member of Species 8472 on deck 11 . ( ) Loss of identity . In 2376 , when the Tarakis memorial began transmitting telepathic memories to " Voyager " , Ayala was one of the crew members stricken by visions caused by the memorial . ( ) In 2377 , he was attacked by Tuvok , who was under the mental control of a Bajoran vedek named Teero Anaydis . Tuvok mind - melded with Ayala and other Maquis , inciting them to mutiny and overthrow Captain Janeway . He once again served as Chakotay ' s right - hand man , and guarded him in the captain ' s ready room . He was present when Chakotay tested Tuvok ' s loyalty by ordering Tuvok to fire a phaser at Captain Janeway . Ayala was returned to normal along with the rest of the Maquis once Tuvok recovered . ( ) Later that year , when nearly the entire " Voyager " crew was abducted by Dr . Kadan , his identity was reassigned to that of a laborer at a power plant , working for the Quarren . He worked at the same power plant as Seven of Nine , Janeway , Torres , and Tuvok . Ayala ' s personnel file at the plant was one of many " Voyager " crew files accessed by Tuvok , whose memory was still partially intact . ( ) Medical record . In 2372 , the Q known as Quinn temporarily caused all male crew members of " Voyager " to disappear when he encountered the ship . This included Ayala . ( ) Later in the year , Tuvok , having lost his emotional control after a mind - meld with Lon Suder , knocked Ayala unconscious in order to get to Suder . ( ) Ayala was in the mess hall when a macrovirus was released aboard " Voyager " in mid - 2373 , and was one of the first crew members to succumb to infection . ( ) Seven of Nine stunned Ayala during her escape from " Voyager " in early 2374 , after she was drawn to the wreckage of the . ( ) " In an alternate timeline created after " Voyager " crash land ed on a planet after using a quantum slipstream drive , Ayala was killed with most of the crew . In 2390 , his frozen body was found by Harry Kim in a Jefferies tube , shortly before the timeline was erased and " Voyager " s destruction averted . " ( ) " In 2376 , when Kes returned to seek revenge against the " Voyager " crew , Ayala and a security team was sent to intercept her , and he was injured by her telekinetic abilities . " The timeline was changed when Kes time traveled to 2371 , and Janeway had these sections evacuated when Kes returned . ( ) Personal life and family . Ayala ' s quarters on " Voyager " were on Deck 7 . ( ) He had two sons whom he missed very much . ( ) Not long after he joined " Voyager " , a jealous Neelix worried that Kes might be romantically interested in Ayala , among other " Voyager " crew members . ( ) However , the Talaxian morale officer soon altered his opinion of the man , even to the point of helping Ayala deal with the distance between him and the children , who were countless lightyears away from him . ( ) Ayala was one of several " Voyager " crewmen who participated in Lieutenant Tuvok ' s holo - program " Insurrection Alpha " , at one point mentioning the program to Ensign Harry Kim . ( ) Ayala was among the group at Kurt Bendera ' s funeral in 2372 ( ) and was part of the honor guard during " Ares IV " astronaut John Kelly ' s funeral in 2376 . ( ) Ayala was at Ensign Ahni Jetal ' s surprise birthday party in 2373 . ( ) He also attended the holodeck luau planned by Neelix later that year . ( ) Ayala participated in several of Tom Paris ' s holosimulations , including " Fair Haven " , and was one of the crew members who was involved in a barroom fight instigated by one of the holographic characters . ( ) Ayala was also present during a screening of " Attack of the Lobster People " at a simulation of the Palace Theater . ( ) He was in the mess hall at the celebration of the " Annual Voyager Science Fair " when he walked in front of B ' Elanna Torres , Commander Chakotay and Icheb with a cup in hand . ( ) Ayala participated in Neelix ' s celebration of the 315th anniversary of First Contact , and was amused by Neelix ' s dancing . He later bade Neelix farewell outside the shuttlebay with the rest of the " Voyager " crew . ( ) Holographic duplication . Ayala ' s physical parameters have been used in a number of holographic simulations : Appendices . Background information . Ayala was played by Tarik Ergin , a regular extra for all seven years of . He was never specifically credited for playing Ayala , and was only credited as " Security Guard " in and " Tactical N . D . " in – even though he worked at the conn in the latter episode . He only spoke in the episodes ( " " Yeah " " and " " Come on ! " " ) , ( " " You ' d better come down to the brig , ma ' am . " " ) , ( " " Stop where you are ! " " ) , and ( " " No response . " " ) . Ergin was directly addressed as Ayala in at least three episodes , , , and . In the first two instances , Ergin clearly responds to a command prefaced by the name " Ayala " . In the latter , Tuvix calls out to Ayala by name , looking in the direction of mission ops , where only Ergin has been established to be at the time . Furthermore , in , he has a short conversation with Janeway over the intercom system in which he self - identifies as Ayala . This instance is less clear , however , as Ergin is never actually " seen " during the conversation , only before and after it . Ayala worked in main engineering in but was moved to the bridge by . He appeared in numerous episodes , usually standing at the master systems display or mission ops stations at the back of the bridge . He generally replaced Tuvok at tactical whenever he left the bridge , and also replaced Kim at the ops station during the first two seasons . Ayala was also seen often in the mess hall and the corridors . He was called ensign in , but lieutenant once again in . Ayala ' s first name was never revealed . Apocrypha . In the novel " Evolution " , set in 2375 , Captain Janeway is on the verge of death and Chakotay is in command ; with Kim and Paris presumed dead , Chakotay assigns Ayala as chief operations officer .