Mercury Main Bridge
| USS Mercury | ||
|---|---|---|
 INACTIVE STATUS | ||
| ||
Primary operational control of the Oracle Class is provided by the Main Bridge, located in a recessed area just under the topmost area of the saucer section.
The Main Bridge directly supervises all primary mission operations and coordinates all departmental activities.
The Main Bridge is not an ejectable module.
With long range missions and extended tours of service in mind, the bridge of the Oracle class has been designed with both comfort and functionality in mind. As the ship’s primary focus is scientific, all necessary stations have been arranged so that they have line of sight to the viewscreen, and the bridge itself is built on three tiers to allow an unobstructed view of the entire display.
On the lower tier, in the forward centre of the bridge, an extra station has been included alongside the traditionally placed helm and operations consoles. This extra station, located on the port side of the trio, is Science 1, which has been moved into a much more prominent location on the bridge to allow the Chief Science officer to study stellar phenomena and anomalies from a much closer distance and to become more involved in their work while remaining in the ship’s command centre. The helm is the central station of the three, while the operations station is located on the starboard side.
An intermediary tier between the lower and upper sections, directly in the centre of the bridge, houses three command chairs. The central is for the commanding officer, with small arm-mounted consoles designed to provide an overview of the ship’s status. The port side chair is for the first officer, while the starboard side chair is for the ship’s counsellor. The first officer and counsellor’s seats are designed to pivot easily to face the larger consoles that are mounted into the rail that frames the command section on its sides and rear; full consoles are incorporated as a part of this rail so that they can both have ease of access to the LCARS system.
The upper section of the bridge is home to stations on its port and starboard sides, each facing the viewscreen. The port station is the secondary science console, and the starboard can be customised to handle medical and environmental controls, as well as use as a tertiary science console as dictated by the requirements of the current mission. The tactical station is built into the command rail, directly behind the commander’s chair, although due to its elevated position, this station has a seat, in contrast to the requirement to stand on a Galaxy-class vessel. The rear section of the bridge houses the stations that require access to the viewscreen less often. The mission operations console, which includes the main overview of the ship, displayed as a full schematic, is in the central section, with Security located at its port side, and Engineering at its Starboard side. Doors on the port side of the bridge lead to the turbolift (fore) and the Observation Lounge (aft), while the doors on the starboard side lead to the ready room (aft) and a second turbolift access point (fore).