Stardate 50460.3: Voyager investigates the phenomenon of a stable inversion nebula. The plasma fires would normally cause a chain reaction, but somehow a dampening effect prevents that this particular nebula burns out. On the holodeck, Harry has recently fallen in love with a new character, Marayna. He asks Tuvok to show him Vulcan techniques to suppress his emotions that he thinks are wrong. When Tuvok joins Harry and Marayna on the holodeck, Marayna switches her attention to Tuvok, which makes Harry jealous. Tuvok deletes her character. After collecting data about the nebula, Janeway orders to leave, but the ship's engines don't react. While B'Elanna is working on the problem, Tuvok is surprised to find Marayna in his quarters, wearing the Doctor's mobile emitter. Marayna has control over the ship's systems. She asks him to stay with her but he refuses, upon which she threatens to destroy Voyager. On the holodeck, B'Elanna finds out that someone controls Marayna through a subspace signal from somewhere inside the nebula. Tuvok is transported to the origin of the signal where he finds the actual Marayna. She is an alien woman whose task is to control the plasma reactions in order to preserve the beauty of the nebula for her people. She is all alone on her station, and is pleased to have found a like-minded person in Tuvok. Tuvok, however, explains to Marayna that he wouldn't be able to return her feelings and that he has a mission and people who rely on him, whereupon she releases Voyager.

• E13 Previous
• E15 Next