Ready room

In the Star Trek science fiction universe, the Ready Room is a room located either adjacent to or near the bridge on Federation Starships. This room serves as an office for the commanding officer of a Starfleet vessel.

The Concept

The concept of a Ready Room was first seen in Star Trek:The Next Generation on board the USS Enterprise-D. Galaxy class starships were equipped with two ready rooms. The primary ready room was adjacent to the main bridge. There was also a smaller ready room adjacent to the battle bridge for use when the two sections of the ship were separated. The only time this ready room was seen was during the pilot episode Encounter at Farpoint.

Captain Picard's Ready Room

On the Enterprise-D, Captain Jean-Luc Picard's ready room was located to the left of the Captain's chair, near the forward turbolift. In this room was a desk with a small computer reader, chairs, and a couch. The room walls were made up of orange panels. It's not clear if this was the color chosen by Captain Picard or not, if the color was specific to the Enterprise, or if the ready rooms on other Galaxy class vessels had the same color schemes. There was one long, thin viewport behind the Captain's desk. There was also an interior doorway in the ready room to another small room where the food replicator was housed, along with access to a private restroom.

Captain Picard had a large painting of the Enterprise-D on the wall behind the couch. The painting was done by an artist named Jefferies as a homage to the original series set designer Matt Jefferies. Also in this room was a large volume of the complete works of William Shakesphere. Picard had an aquarium set up near the viewport for his lion fish. He also had a model of the USS Stargazer – his first starship command – in the room. He would also come to display a number of archealogical finds in his ready room.

Captain Picard viewed his ready room as not only as an office, but as a private sanctuary. He would occasionaly hold staff briefings in the ready room, but most times briefings for the command staff were held in the deck one briefing room.