The Meaning Of A Red Directive, Explained

The fifth and final season of “Star Trek: Discovery” began with a tantalizing premise. Captain Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) receives a Red Directive from a top Federation official, Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg), tasking her with a secret mission. There is an abandoned 800-year-old Romulan science vessel lost in deep space, and Burnham is sent to retrieve a mysterious object on board. It seems, however, that a pair of mysterious marauders named Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) have found the object first. After some planet-hopping cat-and-mouse games, Captain Burnham retrieves the object back from them and finds that it is a journal, written by 24th-century scientists, that points to the location of an impossibly ancient technology built by the Progenitors. 

Trekkies will be able to tell you that the Progenitors were possibly the very first humanoid species to have evolved in the galaxy. Lonely, the Progenitors seeded millions of worlds with their own DNA, sparking evolution in each of them. That means every humanoid species on “Star Trek” shares a common ancestor. The rest of the fifth season follows an Indiana Jones-style adventure as Burnham and her colleague Captain Rayner (Collum Keith Rennie) try to track down the mysterious Progenitor tech before Moll and L’ak can. Of course, there are several twists in the plot along the way. 

But what the heck is a “Red Directive.” Its name implies that it is a mission of utmost importance, of course, but, curiously, the term hadn’t been used in “Star Trek” until this episode. It seems to extend from the higher-ups at Starfleet who have the capacity to order any ship to any mission at a moment’s notice, and that the mission must remain completely secret. Dr. Kovich, it seems, pulls a lot of clout at Starfleet. This adds an additional mystery: what the heck is Kovich’s rank?

Through dialogue, Trekkies can only infer what a Red Directive actually is. We know that Red Directives can only be given in a super secret location called the Infinity Room, a secret location deep inside Starfleet Headquarters, making them orders of the most exclusive type, only given in person. It seems that certain starship captains receive Red Directives often, as Captain Rayner notes that he is now taking part in his eighth. 

Fast-forward to the end of “Star Trek: Discovery,” and Captain Burnham has completed her mission, having located the Progenitor widget and hidden it safely next to a black hole. She announces that the Red Directive is closed and that all the details of her mission will instantly be classified. So it seems that a Red Directive is just a fancy term for a top-secret mission, as one might hear about on “Mission: Impossible.” 

And who is Kovich that he can hand out Red Directives? His ability to do so even undercuts the authority of Fleet Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr), one of the highest-ranking officers in the service. It seems that Kovich’s backstory was more complex than originally thought. In the 32nd century, Kovich seemed to be a vague executive of some kind, overseeing various aspects of the Federation’s bureaucracy. In the fifth season of “Discovery,” though, he will reveal himself to be a very long-lived time traveler named Daniels who has interacted with various “Star Trek” ships throughout his lifetime. Daniels famously appeared in several episodes of “Star Trek: Enterprise,” played by Matt Winston. It seems that his exploration of events in “Star Trek” history lends him a great deal of pull at Headquarters. 

“Discovery” ends with Burnham receiving another Red Directive, and she’s on her merry way. The adventures, it seems, will continue.