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Captain is a commissioned Starfleet officer rank in the fictional Star Trek universe. According to dialog in "Behind the Lines", "Captain" is also the label given to the master of a starship, regardless of his or her actual rank. The rank first appears in Star Trek's initial pilot, "The Cage", and is held by Christopher Pike, who commands the USS Enterprise. Dozens of captains, both seen and unseen, have played minor and major roles throughout Star Trek's various incarnations.

Captain James T. Kirk, commanding officer of the USS Enterprise and USS Enterprise-A

Captain Jonathan Archer commands Star Trek: Enterprise's titular ship one hundred years before Captains Pike and James T. Kirk command a starship of the same name.

The Animated Series states that Captain Robert April preceded Pike as commander of the Enterprise. However, while April's tenure as commander of the Enterprise is generally accepted by fans, Star Trek's producers have never made this canon.^[1]

Pike wears a single rank stripe, the same as all other officers aboard the USS Enterprise. Kirk, however, wears distinct captain insignia.

Other captains who appear in the original Star Trek series include the captain of a merchant commander in "Charlie X", two captains on Kirk's court-martial board in "Court Martial", Captain Ronald Tracey of the USS Exeter in "The Omega Glory", and the dead captain of the USS Defiant in "The Tholian Web".^[1]

The Star Trek feature films include multiple captains, starting with Willard Decker in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and continuing with Spock's promotion to captain at some point before the beginning of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.^[1] Spock becomes captain of the Enterprise, although he eventually returns to serving as Kirk's first officer. Montgomery Scott is promoted to captain in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, but, after a brief assignment to the USS Excelsior, continues to serve as chief engineer under Kirk.^[1] Star Trek III also includes Captain Styles, commanding officer of the USS Excelsior.^[1] Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home includes the first appearance of a female Starfleet captain, in command of the USS Saratoga.^[1] Hikaru Sulu is promoted to captain and becomes master of the USS Excelsior a few years before the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country^[1] (a scene mentioning Sulu's promotion to captain and assignment as commander of the Excelsior was scripted but cut from Star Trek II^[2]). William Riker is promoted to captain in Star Trek and is given the command of the USS Titan.^[3]

Other Star Trek captains include Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Enterprise-D and Enterprise-E, Captain Benjamin Sisko of the space station Deep Space Nine and the starship USS Defiant, and Captain Kathryn Janeway of the USS Voyager.^[1]

In one episode of Star Trek: Voyager, Captain Geordi La Forge is in command of the USS Challenger. This is during an episode in which Harry Kim and Chakotay are attempting to save the Voyager from being destroyed in the past after a failed test of a new propulsion system. The USS Challenger under Captain La Forge is dispatched to capture the Harry and Chakotay on the Delta Flyer. La Forge was shown with the same four rank pips as Captains from TNG, DS9, and VOY.

In TNG, DS9 and VOY, the insignia for a captain is four pips on the collar.

• Captain article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki