Operations Center

An Operations Center (also known as Ops) is the command and control facility of a space station or outpost. (DS9: "Civil Defense", "Meridian") All major departments typically have stations (and often more than one) in the Ops section, always manned. This allows the command section and senior staff unlimited access to what is going on at all times, both inside and outside the station/outpost. Much like the Bridge of a ship, everything from Environmental Systems to communications and sensors to Flight Control is monitored and controlled from here.

While all classes of Federation space stations and planet-side facilities have a standard Ops layout, these centers are readily interchangeable with modular components to suit a particular necessity or simply to satisfy a Commanding Officer's preference. Normal components of an Ops center (beside all the department stations) include a Captain's Ready Room, an Observation Lounge and/or Briefing Room, a Weapons Locker, and dedicated turbolifts. Whatever the case, it has become standard procedure to also have an auxiliary operations center installed---a lesson Starfleet learned from the Dominion War. The Jem'Hadar were especially adept at focusing their attacks on the Ops of any station or outpost they targeted, rendering chaos to the rest of the facility.