On Starfleet vessels, the bridge is usually located on Deck 1, on top of the vessel's primary hull. The bridge is the nerve-center of every starship, and it is manned by the top officers of each department except for Engineering. There is typically an Engineering station that the Chief Engineer will use when on the bridge.
From here, the commanding officer supervises the entire ship's operation. When seated in the command chair, typically located in the center of the room, the commander has visual access to all major personnel stations and viewscreens, facilitating the decision-making process. By the mid-24th century, it has become standard that a first officer is assigned to assist a ship's captain in this process.
The forward bulkhead of the bridge is typically dominated by the main viewscreen. Directly in front of this is usually the helm console, from where navigation and vessel course control are carried out.
Many of the supportive stations that were present on 23rd century bridges were combined into one by the 24th century; that of the operations officer. Some bridges feature the operations console alongside the helm station, from where the officer on duty has access to internal systems control, communications, sensor systems, resource scheduling and hardware and system usage.
Still, each bridge typically features supportive consoles for engineering, gravity control, damage control, environmental engineering, sciences and library computer, and internal security, most of these not being necessarily manned under normal circumstances.
Most bridges on Starfleet vessels are replaceable modules, so that adaptation to special missions or upgrading the ship is facilitated.
Command StationsThe bridge command stations provide seating and information displays for the commanding officer and one or two other officers, typically including the first officer (though in past times, usually a senior bridge officer doubled as first officer). The command chairs are located in the center of the bridge, designed to maximize interaction with all key bridge personnel, while permitting an unobstructed view of the main viewscreen.
Typically, the armrests of the captain's chair feature miniaturized status displays. Using keyboard or vocal commands, the captain can use these controls to override the basic operation of the starship.
Operations ManagmentMany shipboard operations involve scheduling resources or hardware that affect a number of departments. In many such cases, it is common for various operations to present conflicting requirements. It is the responsibility of the operations officer to coordinate such activities so that mission goals are not jeopardized.
The operations position (also known simply as "Ops") evolved from older 23rd century positions. The bulk of the duties held by the helm and navigation positions were combined into the Conn position. Other functions of the helm panel, such as internal systems control, became the purview of Ops, as have some communications and sensor system usages.
The Ops panel presents the operations officer with a continually updated list of current major shipboard activities. This list permits Ops to set priorities and allocate resources among current operations. This is especially critical in cases where two or more requests require the use of the same equipment, entail mutually exclusive mission profiles, or involve some unusual safety or tactical considerations.
Security & TacticalThe bridge station dedicated to defensive systems control and starship internal security is Tactical. Parts of the default control layout presents the security officer with information readouts dealing with the internal protection of the starship and its crew. A wide variety of starship defensive systems are available to the chief tactical officer (sometimes doubling as chief of security), ranging from the defensive shields to phaser and torpedo systems, as well as intrusion detection systems.
Other systems that may be commanded by Tactical include communications, long- and short-range sensor arrays, sensor probes, message buoys, and tractor beam devices.
Supportive StationsEvery Starfleet bridge also includes several supportive consoles and backup stations. These may include consoles for Planetary sciences, Engineering, Mission Ops and Environmental Control. Most of these are meant to relieve the senior bridge officers of secondary duties during alert and crisis situations.
Mission Ops provides additional support to the operations officer, and is specifically responsible for monitoring activity relating to secondary missions. Mission Ops is responsible for assignment of resources and priorities according to guidelines specified by the operations officer and by operating protocols. This station is also responsible for monitoring away teams.
The Environmental Control console provides similar relief to the operations officer, monitoring the starship's life support systems. Due to the highly automated nature of these systems, this console would be unattended under normal circumstances, but becomes of crucial importance during alert situations to maximize crew survivability.
The bridge's Engineering station duplicates in simplified form the Chief Engineer's primary status displays from Main Engineering. The purpose of this station is to permit the Chief Engineer to maintain supervision over engineering system while on the bridge.
