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 beamed 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 Voyagers 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 divisions, 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 Hanonians 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 piloted the ship into a binary pulsar to protect her crew from the Srivani experiments, 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 incursions 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  for an away mission to the Hirogen relay station, Ayala worked as relief tactical officer during the confrontation with a Hirogen ship. ()

In 2375, while Lieutenant Commander Tuvok was missing with an away team aboard the , 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 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 Nakan 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 . 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 landed 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 Voyagers 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. ()

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 his two sons whom he missed very much, as they were countless light years 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' 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. ()

Holograms  
Ayala's physical parameters have been used in a number of holographic simulations:
 In Tuvok's Insurrection Alpha program, Ayala was ordered to take the helm after the Maquis were successful in commandeering Voyager. If the participant in the simulation decided to help the Starfleet crew, Ayala apprehended the participant and brought them to the brig. () 
 Ayala was seen in the mess hall in the program created by The Doctor in order to improve Seven of Nine's social skills in 2374. () 
 In Maquis garb, he was part of Reginald Barclay's holographic simulation of Voyager, programmed to act as one of Barclay's good friends in 2376. ()
 In the 31st century simulation of Voyager at the Kyrian Museum of Heritage, Ayala was present on the bridge. ()

Chronology 
prior to 2371  Fathers two sons, joins the Maquis under Chakotay's command.
2371  Presumed killed when the Val Jean is lost in the Badlands; actually joins the crew of the USS Voyager in the Delta Quadrant with the provisional Starfleet rank of lieutenant junior grade.
2374  Word of Voyagers survival reaches the Alpha Quadrant.
2377  Helps Chakotay commandeer Voyager as part of Teero Anaydis' mind control plot.
 Memory is erased and identity reassigned by rogue Quarren, later rescued.
2378  Transfers to command division.
 Returns to Earth with Voyager.

Appendices

Appearances 
 (Season One)

 (Season Two)

 (Season Three)

 (Season Four)

 (Season Five)

 (Season Six)

 (Season Seven)

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.

Ayala was also scheduled to work on the bridge in the second season episode  but was replaced by Louis Ortiz as noted on the call sheets.

Ayala has the most episode appearances of an extra in any Star Trek series.

Apocrypha 
In the novel , 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.

See also 
 List of Voyager recurring character appearances

External links 
 
 
 

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Humans
Starfleet operations personnel
Starfleet command personnel
USS Voyager personnel
Maquis personnel