Emergency Fleet Access Program

The Emergency Fleet Access Program was a security program installed within Federation Starfleet vessels.

This system was employed in times of war or emergency where situations might mean that ships can sometimes lose their command crew or vice versa. Starfleet established a procedure in order to ensure a quick shift in command authority from ship to ship. This allowed command to be transferred to another senior office who gained complete control over the ships computer.

In situations where there was never a previous command posted listed in the computer, then the Emergency Fleet Access Program gave authority to the next senior office but this was only effective for one hour while it sought confirmation from Starfleet Command. Till then, the officer who initiated the program was recognised as acting Captain of the vessel allowing certain limited actions in preparations for assuming full command.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard initiated Emergency Fleet Access Program Alpha Alpha One Alpha while on board the Mirror Universe created USS Voyager as the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance replicated the vessel without taking into account the computer programs already present within its systems. This allowed him to bypass Gul Rutals controls and attempt to free his captured crew.

During the use of the computer systems, the acting Captain was required to enter their Emergency Fleet Access Code.