Captain's ready room

The captain's ready room is a personal office reserved for the commanding officer of a starship and is typically accessed from the bridge.

Here, the captain can engage in administrative work with all relevant office equipment at hand without interfering with bridge operations. In addition, this room is usually the preferred place where the captain can hold private discussions and/or receive classified communications.

NX-class
On vessels of the 22nd century, the captain's ready room was located starboard of the bridge, directly across from the turbolift.

Office space in these early ready rooms was much more cramped than that of 24th century vessels and featured pipes running along the length of the ceiling, which was itself relatively low.

Aboard the, Captain Jonathan Archer's ready room was plagued by a persistent squeak that, though seemingly repaired, resurfaced from time to time until it was apparently fixed for good by the automated repair station. The room was sparse compared to its future counterparts, featuring a desk, small couch and portraits of ships named Enterprise, including a sailing ship, the second aircraft carrier, the orbiter, and the NX-01 herself. (Star Trek: Enterprise) A short corridor outside the room was usually used as an access to and from the bridge, although it also led to the starship's brig. The ready room was located to the aft of an emergency rescue hatch, as an exterior sign indicating this hatch's location was visible immediately below the ready room window. 

Galaxy-class
On a starship, the captain's ready room was located port of the main bridge, beside the forward-port turbolift.

Among the items kept in Captain Jean-Luc Picard's ready room was a copy of The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare: The Complete Works, a model of a Constellation-class starship (registry NCC-7100), a crystal model of a sailing ship and the Kurlan naiskos given to him by his mentor Richard Galen as well as a tank containing his fish, Livingston.

The room featured a large desk with a personal computer and three chairs, a couch, a large portrait of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), and, in a side alcove, a food replicator.

Despite remaining mostly unchanged throughout its service aboard the Enterprise-D, Picard's ready room was temporarily redecorated (most notably, the fish tank removed) when Captain Edward Jellico briefly took command in 2369. 



Typically, the captain of a Galaxy-class starship had an additional, smaller ready room off of the battle bridge. 

Defiant-class
Like the other rooms on the USS Defiant (2370), the ready room of the was small and compact.

In 2374, Captain Tim Watters spoke to Nog in the USS Valiant (NCC-74210)'s ready room. Watters told him of the Valiant's mission to destroy a Jem'Hadar battleship.

Watters and Karen Farris later brought Jake Sisko to the ready room to warn him to stay away from Dorian Collins. 

Several months later, Captain Benjamin Sisko spoke to Captain Lisa Cusak from his ready room. They talked about the Dominion War, Starfleet's attempts to liberate Betazed from the Dominion and his discomfort with having Kasidy Yates aboard. 

In 2375, Sisko spoke to Ezri Dax on Deep Space 9 from his ready room on the Defiant to tell her they had been unsuccessful in locating Worf and other members of the. 

Intrepid-class
On an starship, the captain's ready room was located starboard of the main bridge, beside the tactical station.

The desk, which featured a work area and access console, was the focal point of the room, located in front of the main entrance door. A raised level in the front section of the room featured a small table, a curved couch, and a food replicator.

The bulkhead behind the couch featured three windows facing the bow of the ship. A port-facing door beside the main entrance provided secondary access to the room from a deck 1 corridor. 

A shelf beside the main work desk allowed the commanding officer to display personal belongings. Captain Kathryn Janeway, of the Intrepid-class USS Voyager, used this shelf to display various historical and archaeological items.

Sovereign-class
Aboard vessels, the ready room was located to the forward starboard side of the main bridge. It featured a small window looking out into space and a private entrance located off the bridge.

Captain Picard's ready room aboard the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) featured a desk and small couch. It was decorated with items from the previous Enterprise, including the Mintakan tapestry. 

It also contained a large, gold model of the Enterprise-E herself, along with the Enterprise-D, C, B, A and the original Enterprise. 

Other
Captain Benjamin Maxwell had a ready room aboard the starship USS Phoenix in 2367, as did Captain Leyton aboard the USS Okinawa during the Tzenkethi War. 

Ready rooms have also been included within starships built and used by other spacefaring organizations than Starfleet. The Andorian Imperial Guard, for example, were known to equip their vessels with such a room as early as 2153, when Commander Shran used a ready room on the Andorian battle cruiser Kumari. There was also a ready room aboard the Xindi-Primate Degra's ship, around the same time. 

Similarly, the Klingon Empire constructed ready rooms in some of their Birds-of-Prey; General Martok had a ready room aboard the in the 2370s,  and another while briefly serving as commander of the  in 2375. 

Background information
The concept of a ready room was first conceived by Robert Justman, who proposed the creation of such a room in a memo dated. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion 3rd ed., p. 8) Years later, he recalled, "I suggested to Gene [Roddenberry] that we should have a captain's ready room, for what we both considered as a dramatic necessity. In a show like Star Trek, you need to have a place where the star, or the captain, can go to have a privileged conversation with someone else, without the possibility of being overheard. To me, the ready room was the perfect place to have that." (, p. 74) Justman took the idea from Navy experience he himself had had. The ready room was therefore in accordance with Roddenberry wanting to adhere to naval custom. (, p. 24)

James Mees was of the opinion that the identity of a ready room's occupant should inform how the room itself looks. "My question is this: Does a ready room always have to have a desk, a chair, and a place for someone else to sit, or does the form and function of the room vary between races?" Mees asked. "To me, it seems clear that different people need different spaces. For instance, Degra's Ready Room is more a working laboratory than an office, because that's what he wants and needs." (, p. 36)

The practice of using ready rooms seemed to have fallen into disuse by the mid-23rd century, as the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) did not appear to have an area specifically designed to serve as a ready room – at least none that was shown in the entire run of The Original Series. Captains instead received a small office area in their quarters, as seen aboard the Enterprise refit in and.

Apocrypha
A scene in the non-canon comic The Modala Imperative shows Admiral McCoy and Ambassador Spock touring the Enterprise-D and, when they get to Picard's ready room, McCoy states that, if Kirk had had such an office, they would have never gotten him off the bridge.