Starfleet General Orders and Regulations are a series of guidelines and rules used to instruct members of Starfleet on the proper etiquette and policy in a situation that requires consultation for a resolution. These protocols are the foundation of Starfleet and the responsibility of its officers to uphold and protect, ranging from all manners of duty, such as interstellar diplomacy to punctuation of reports. Violations of protocol may lead to being placed on report, to a court martial, to a demotion in rank, or other reprimands.
This section summarises some of Starfleet's most important General Orders. Not all General Orders are covered.
General Order Number One - The Prime Directive
- "As the right of each sentient species to live in accordance with its normal cultural evolutionis considered sacred, no Starfleet personnel may interfere with the healthy development of alien life and culture. Such interference includes the introduction of superior knowledge, strength or technology to a world whose society is incapable of handling such advantages wisely. Starfleet personnel may not violate this Prime Directive, even to save their lives and/or their ship, unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an accidental contamination of said culture.
"When contacting planets making normal progress toward a free and unified society, a Starfleet officer shall make no identification of self or mission; No interference with the social development of said planet; No references to space, or the fact that there are other worlds of more advanced civililisation."
There follow several pages of qualifications, guidelines and commentary including definitions of "healthy development," "normal progress," "free and unified society" and other terms; what consititutes interference with the social development; when Prime Directive provisions may be overridden and by whom; penalties for violations, First Contact protocols, et cetera.
Penalties for violation of the Prime Directive are severe. The minimum penalty for a wilfull violation is a dishonourable discharge; more severe violations carry punishments up life imprisonment.
General Order Number Four:
Starfleet expressly forbids the death penalty. General Order Number Seven is the only exception.
General Order Number Five:
In cases of extreme emergency, Federation special representatives are empowered to deal with a condition or circumstance that is deemed hazardous to the welfare of Federation citizenry. Within the scope of these emergency powers, duly authorized civilian personnel may assume temporary command of Starfleet vessels and/or personnel to deal with the emergency. Starfleet personnel must submit to their authority for the duration of the crisis.
General Order Number Number Six:
If all life aboard a Federation starship has perished, the ship will self-destruct within twenty-four hours to protect other ships from potential hazards within.
General Order Number Seven
This order forbids any contact with the planet Talos IV. It provides the only death penalty on the books. Information on the Talos Star Group is classified SECLAR 4.
General Order Number Twelve
This order establishes protocols for making communications contact with approaching space vessels and the approach of space vessels with which communications contact has not been established.
General Order Number Thirteen
This order establishes protoicols for the evacuation of Starfleet vessels.
General Order Number Fifteen
This order establishes security protocols for Away Teams. It states, in part, "No Flag officer shall beam into a hazardous situation without armed escort." Under this order, a ship's Executive Officer can recommend that the Captain of the ship not accompany an Away Team until the area has been secured.
General Order Number Twenty-Four
This order provides for the orbital bombardment of a hostile planet. It is only used in time of war.
This section summarises a sampling of Starfleet Directives. They are usually summaries of a constellation of General Orders and Starfleet Regulations.
Prime Directive
See General Order Number One, above.
The Omega Directive
Denoted by Ω is a highly classified Starfleet general order requiring the captain of a starship to notify Starfleet Command immediately upon detection of an Omega molecule—The directive also authorises the use of any and all means to destroy an Omega molecule, superseding all other regulations, even the Prime Directive. The Omega Directive was deemed necessary because of the extreme power and the threat to interstellar civilizations posed by even a single molecule. Knowledge of the Omega molecule and the Omega Directive is restricted to starship captains and flag officers.
The Temporal Prime Directive
This is a fundamental Starfleet principle. All Starfleet personnel are strictly forbidden from directly interfering with historical events and were required to maintain the timeline and prevent history from being altered. It also restricts people from telling too much about the future, so as not to cause paradoxes or alter the timeline.
Directive 010
"Before engaging alien species in battle, any and all attempts to make first contact and achieve nonmilitary resolution must be made."
Directive 101:
Any individual accused of a crime does not have to answer any questions. This is a reference to the Seventh Guarantee of the Constitution of the United Federation of Planets.
Tactical Directive 36:
"The captain will not engage a hostile force without the protection of a security officer." This incorpoates General Order Fifteen, above.
Starfleet Order 2:
Starfleet regulation against the taking of intelligent life.
Starfleet Order 104: Section B, Paragraph 1-A
In the absence of a starship's assigned captain, a flag officer had the authority to assume command of the starship should they have deemed it necessary.
Starfleet Order 104: Section C
Should it be proven with admissible evidence that the flag officer who had assumed command was medically or psychologically unfit for command, the starship's ranking officer could relieve them on that basis. However, such an action was required to be supported by an appropriate certification of unfitness by the ship's chief medical officer (requiring the CMO to also produce test results to that effect) or other clear evidence, such as an act of attempted suicide.
- Starfleet Order 2005:
Orders the destruction of a starship by allowing matter and antimatter to mix in an uncontrolled manner. This was a last resort for a captain that allowed them to prevent their ship or crew from falling into enemy hands. Admiral James T. Kirk executed this order (without directly citing it) when he ordered his officers to initiate the Enterprise's self-destruct sequence.
Starfleet Order 28455:
Federation order that dictated the formal relief of a commanding officer by their successor.
- Starfleet maintains a variety of security codes for use during both peacetime and wartime. These codes are arranged by priority from 1 to 50. The function of the individual codes is summarised below.
- SSC 1-10
- SSC's 1-10 are for normal peacetime transmissions of varying priorities, with routine transmissions between commercial planetary centres recieving a priority dispatch of 1 through 5, and levels 6 through 10 being used for Starfleet communications.
- SSC 11-20
- SSC's 11-20 are used in conditions of hostilities between the Federation and a foreign power. These priorities are used to transmit orders regarding the disposition of vessels and ground troops, the relocation of civilian personnel, the assigning of Starfleet resources to different commands, operations orders for these commands and specific operations orders.
- SSC 21-29
- SSC's 21-29 are for use by the Fedration Diplomatic Corps.
- These codes specify conditions of emergency, with variable priority levels given to specific problems or crisis conditions during peacetime operations.
- SSC 30
- Transmission of a communication using SSC 30 indicates an emergency condition involving a planetary disasteror other unspecified emergency. Use of this code means that the sending station is not able to adequately respond to the emergency and requires immediate help at the scene.
- SSC 31
- SSC 31 is used for a medical emergency.
- SSC 32
- SSC 32 indicates a planetary crisis of natural origin.
- SSC 33
- SSC 33 is used for a bio-medical crisis requiring immediate evacuation of personnel.
- SSC 34
- SSC 34 indicates a bio-medical crisis requiring immediate quarantine.
- SSC 35
- SSC 35 signals an ecological disaster or similar planetary crisis.
- SSC 36-38
- SSC's 36 through 38 are used for crises of unknown origin that require the immediate evacuation of a large segment of a planet's population.
- SSC 39
- SSC 39 indicates an attack by unknown agents on Federation personnel or on civilian installations or residences.
- These codes indicate classified material and restrict disemination of that material.
- SSC 40
- SSC 40 communications are directed at a specific starship or starbase Chief Science Officer, for disclosure to ship or base command staff only.
- SSC 41
- SSC 41 communications are directed at a specific starship or starbase Chief Science Officer, for disclosure to the senior officer present only.
- SSC 42
- SSC 42 communications are directed at a specific starship or starbase Chief Medical Officer, for disclosure to ship or base command staff only.
- SSC 43
- SSC 43 communications are directed at a specific starship or starbase Chief Medical Officer, for disclosure to the senior officer present only.
- SSC 44
- SSC 44 communications are directed at a specific starship or starbase Chief of Security, for disclosure to ship or base command staff only.
- SSC 45
- SSC 45 communications are directed at a specific starship or starbase Chief of Security, for disclosure to the senior officer present only.
- SSC 46
- SSC 46 communications are directed to the Commanding Officer of a starship or starbase, for disclosure to ship or base command staff only.
- SSC 47
- SSC 47 communications are directed to the Commanding Officer of a starship or starbase. They are not to be disclosed to ship or base command staff, and no acknowledgement or log entry of the communication is to be made.
- These codes indicate high-level origins of the communication, and are restricted to specific individuals.
- SSC 48
- SSC 48 communications are reserved for the CinC Starfleet.
- SSC 49
- SSC 49 communications are reserved for members of the Federation Council or their designated representatives.
- SSC 50
- SSC 50 communications are reserved for the President of the Federation.
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- Departmental Access Codes
- Departmental Access Codes are general codes for use by members of a ship's department. Such a code might be used to access log entires or other routine files and programmes, or to issue orders to the computer. These codes consist of the ship's department, a Greek letter, and a numerical code. The higher the Greek letter in the alphabet, the greater the access. High-level access may require voiceprint confirmation, a Personal Access Code or authorisation from a superior officer. An example of a Departmental Access Code might be: Engineering Access Code: Gamma three one four two.
- Personal Access Codes
- Personal Access Codes identify the person accessing a particular file or programme, or issuing an order. They are given in a similar format to Departmental Access Codes, substituting the person's surname for the department name. All Personal Access Codes are voiceprint confirmed, and higher level access may require handprint or retinal scans for confirmation. An example of a Personal Access Code might be: Access Code: Perrini Delta five one two seven.
- starships and starbases are not normally kept on alert. When not on alert, Shift A is on duty and Shifts B and C are off duty (this presupposes a standard three-shift duty cycle).
- Blue Alert
- This is a specialised level of alert. Shift A Shift A remains on duty, deactivative non-essential equipment, disengaging the Warp Drive and/or Impulse Drive, maintaining thrusters at Station-Keeping, securing all loose and /or fragile items and preparing the Quantum Para-Dimensional Transport Device for activation at the Captain's command.
- Yellow Alert
- This is a moderate level of alert. Shift A remains on duty, preparing the duty station for battle readiness, warming up equipment and securing all loose and /or fragile items. Shift B goes on duty and joins Shift A at the duty station.
- Red Alert
- This is a high level of alert. Shift C goes on duty, joining Shifts A and B at the duty station. All stations report readiness to the Bridge when fully manned. Personnel designated Damage Control auxiliaries will report to their Damage Control stations.
- Green Alert
- Secure from alert status. All Sifts return to normal duties. If battle damage has been incurred Damage Control Teams report to duty.
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- All personnel drop whatever they are doing and report to their assigned Lifeboat Pod for evacuation. The only exceptions are Shift A Security personnel, on-duty Bridge crew, on-duty Medical staff and designated auxiliary craft Command pilots.
- General Quarters is a series of security protocols detailing security procedures on starships and starbases.
- General Quarters One
- GQ1 is automatically instituted when a Yellow Alert is declared. All Security personnel are issued Phaser II sidearms, and one Security crewman may be stationed on the Bridge until orders are given to stand down from General Quarters. Phasers are to be locked to Stun cycle.
- General Quarters Two
- GQ2 is automatically instituted when a Red Alert is declared. Security personnel are issued Phaser II sidearms, and may be issued Phaser rifles. One or two Security personnel are positioned on the Bridge, and Security detachments are placed at all Transporter rooms and hangar bays. In addition, Security detachments are positioned on all non-Engineering decks. Phasers are to be locked on Stun cycle.
- General Quarters Three
- GQ3 is normally issued during an Intruder Alert. All Security personnel are issued Phaser II sidearms and may be issued Phaser rifles. Two Security personnel are positioned on the Bridge, and Security patrols all decks in pairs, in addition to the provisions of GQ2. Phasers are locked to Heavy Stun cycle.
- General Quarters Four
- GQ4 is issued when the ship is in danger of being boarded. All Security personnel are issued Phaser II sidearms and Phaser rifles. In addition to the provisions of GQ3, Security detachments are positioned in all Engineering spaces, Life Support, the main computer core and the Auxiliary Bridge. Hangar and airlock doors are sealed, and security forcefields may be raised. Phasers may be set to lethal settings.
- General Quarters Five
- In addition to the provisions of GQ4, all Turbolifts are shut down, all security bulkheads are closed and all security forcefields are raised. All Security personnel are issued breathing apparatus, some areas of the ship may be flooded with Neural gas.
- Under extreme circumstances, the Captain of a starship may opt to destroy the ship rather than have it captured by hostile forces, as provided for under Starfleet Regulation 2005. This normally requires the confirmation of both the Executive Officer and Operations Officer. The orders are given to the computer verbally, and confirmed by voiceprint and security access code. In addition, confirmation by handprint and/or retinal scan may be required. In particularly hostile conditions, the Ops Officer or both the XO and Ops may predelegat their confirmation to the Captain, who can then act unilaterally.
- An example of a autodestruct sequence order is:
| CO: | This is Captain (name). Engage autodestruct. | Destruct sequence one: code one, one A. |
| XO: | This is Commander (name), First Officer. | Destruct sequence two: code one, one A, two B. |
| Ops: | This is Lieutenant Commander (name), Chief Operations Officer. | Destruct Sequence three: code one B, two B, three. |
| Computer: | Destruct sequence completed and engaged. | Awaiting final code for sixty second count down. |
| CO: | Code zero zero zero, destruct zero. |
| Computer: | Sixty seconds, fifty-nine... |
- The cancellation code may be given at any point prior to the end of the destruct sequence:
| CO: | Code one two three, continuity. | Abort destruct sequence. |
| Computer: | Acknowledged. | Autodestruct sequence aborted. |
- There are two options for the autodestruct sequence. Option one assumes that no friendly vessels are present, and that the encounter is in deep space. This option simultaneously forces a Warp Core breach and drops the magnetic bottles on all Antimatter containment pods, causing a huge Matter/Antimatter explosion.
- Option two is used when friendly vessels or stations may be damaged by an Antimatter explosion, or when in a planetary system wher there is a danger that such an explosion may cause damage to a planet's populace. This option overloads all Phaser banks, detonates preplaced cahrges in the computer core and at all airlock and hangar doors, ejects all Antimatter containment pods, and overloads all emergency reactor batteries, destroying the ship.
This section summarises a sampling of Starfleet Regulations. Regulations are cited by number and section, and may be refereed to as "Regulations," "Orders," or "Codes." Regulation 46, section A might be referred to as "Regulation 46A," "Order 46, section A" or "Code 46A."
- Regulation 3
- Paragraph 12 In the event of imminent destruction, a Starfleet captain is authorized to preserve the lives of his crew by any justifiable means.
- Regulation 7
- Paragraph 4 An officer must consider themselves under arrest, unless in the presence of the most senior fellow officers presently available, the officers must give satisfactory answer to those charges…
- Regulation 12
- Paragraph 4 Relates to the captain undertaking command of an away mission.
- Regulation 15
- Regulation that prohibits the transfer of weapons by Starfleet officers to other races without the approval of the Federation Council.
- Regulation 17
- Paragraph 43 A regulation relating to Starfleet's ethical code of conduct, which is part of the Starfleet Code. Starfleet Academy cadets found cheating are in violation of this regulation.
- Regulation 19
- Section A, Paragraph 12 A regulation concerning the ability of ranking Federation officials to give direct orders to Starfleet officers.
- Section 3 A regulation allowing an officer to take command of a starship, active only under three conditions:
—When an imminent threat is detected
—When the lives of Federation citizens are in danger
—When no other officers of equal or higher rank are present to mitigate the threat.
- Regulation 25
- Regulation that prohibits the transfer of weapons by Starfleet officers to other races without the approval of the Federation Council.
- Regulation 42
- Paragraph 15 Pressure Variances in IRC Tank Storage. Part of the basic operational specifications for impulse engines.
- Regulation 46
- Establishes communications protocols in combat situations.
- Section A states, "If transmissions are being monitored during battle, no uncoded messages are to be transmitted on an open channel."
- Regulation 76
- Prohibits pointing a weapon at a fellow Starfleet officer without a valid reason.
- Regulation 104
Establishes the chain of command on a Starship or Starbase.
- Section A establishes procedures for the assumption of command by the ranking officer in even of the death or incapacitation of his superior officers.
- Section B establishes procedures for a senior officer outside the chain of command to assume command of a Starship or Starbase.
- Section C establishes procedures for removal from command of an officer deemed medically unfit by the Chief Medical Officer of a Starship or Starbase.
- Regulation 121
- Section A The chief medical officer has the power to relieve an officer or crewman of his or her duties (including one of superior rank) if, in the CMO's professional judgment, the individual is medically unfit, compromised by an alien intelligence, or otherwise exhibits behavior that indicates seriously impaired judgment. A Starfleet officer may face court martial for failing to submit to such a relief.
- Section B Stating that "An emotionally compromised officer was not fit to serve in the position of captain,", this regulation provides for the removal of the captain for this in addition to the exingencies in Section A.
- Regulation 157
- Section 3, Paragraph 18 Starfleet officers are required to take all necessary precautions to minimize any participation in historical events.
- Regulation 191
- Article 14 In a combat situation involving more than one ship, command falls to the vessel with tactical superiority, should there not be a higher ranking officer present.
- Regulation 208
- Paragraph 2 Allows an active-duty captain to override the orders of other officers.
- Regulation 476
- Paragraph 9 All away teams are required to report in at least once every twenty-four hours.
- Regulation 619
- The commanding officer is required to relieve themself of command if their current mission leaves them emotionally compromised and unable to make rational decisions. The Chief Medical Officer may invoke Regulation 121, Section B, if they fail to do so.
- Regulation 710
- Establishes protocols for the restriction of space traffic in the vicinity of the sender.
- Regulation 756
- Regulation that prohibits the transfer of weapons by Starfleet officers to other races without the approval of the Federation Council.
- Regulation 2005
- Establishes protocols and procedures for the engaging of the autodestruct sequence on a Starship or Starbase.
- Regulation 2884
- Paragraph 3 A regulation concerning handling of substances unstable in an oxygen atmosphere.
- Regulation 3121
- Establishes the right of access to subspace communications for personnel on a Starship or Starbase.
- Regulation 3194
- Restricts access to subspace communications for personal messages while on duty.
- Regulation 3287
- A regulation concerning handling of antimatter. Due to its high volatile nature, antimatter is required to be stored in magnetic confinement pods.
- Regulation 1398
- Allows a Starfleet captain to conscript almost any person into service during a time of war.
- Reserve activation clause
- Starfleet may reinstate a discharged officer in an emergency. A "little known" and "seldom used" clause in Starfleet regulations which allowed for the recall of a retired or discharged officer in the event of an emergency.
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