Tactical Officers are highly trained and interactive individual in the area of weaponry, specifically starship weaponry. They report directly to the Chief Tactical Officer, or to the Commanding Officer or Executive Officer if the CTO is not available.
All of the ship's defensive shields and weapons systems are controlled by these officers. During alert conditions the tactical officer is responsible for the activation and monitoring of starship shields. This includes making manual adjustments such as shield modulation and recalibration.
The tactical officer has control of all starship or installation defensive systems. These systems include tactical analysis, targeting, and firing. All tactical maneuvers must be coordinated with the flight control officer. On most ships, there may only be one or two tactical officers, or their positions may be combined with Security Officers. Dedicated tactical officers are very rare except on old or very larger ships that require more than one weapons control station.