Alter Ego

While Voyager studies a rare inversion nebula, Harry Kim confesses to Tuvok that he has fallen for Marayna, a character in Neelix's holodeck resort program, and asks for Vulcan help in suppressing his emotions. When Tuvok meets Marayna, he finds her a stimulating companion, and Kim becomes jealous. To prove his detachment, Tuvok deletes her, yet she reappears in his quarters using the Doctor's mobile emitter. Marayna is far more than a hologram. When Tuvok rejects her advances, she seizes control of the ship and strands it as the nebula grows unstable. Tuvok beams to her vessel and finds the real Marayna, an alien living alone inside the nebula and keeping it from igniting so that her people can enjoy its beauty. Tuvok explains that he is married and that a relationship begun under duress could never be genuine. Marayna lets Voyager go, and Tuvok later offers to teach Kim the Vulcan game kal-toh.