Emergency jump coordinates

Emergency jump coordinates (also "emergency standby coordinates," "escape coordinates" or simply "emergency coordinates") are likely part of standard Colonial Fleet fleet maneuver doctrine. Coordinates appear to be labeled by letters of the Colonial wireless alphabet, namely as "Alpha," "Bravo", "Constellation" and so on. Multiple sets of emergency jump coordinates can exist simultaneously, to be used in different contingencies or as part of a larger battle plan. Emergency coordinates are distributed by the flagship among a group of ships.

The authority to order an emergency FTL jump rests with the Fleet's principal officer in command.

Their calculation and distribution are a part of routine day-to-day operations and fall within the responsibility of the Senior Officer of the Watch, in the case of Galactica, Lieutenant Gaeta. They are updated on every watch with new starfixes to compensate for inertial drift and then distributed to the Fleet.

Emergency jump coordinates are not explicitly mentioned in "33". The reasons for this may be that the collective jump of the Fleet into safety had become "routine" rather than an emergency procedure.

In "Scattered", Colonel Tigh orders an immediate jump to the emergency coordinates. When Galactica finds herself isolated from the rest of the fleet, Tigh states that while Galactica did update its jump coordinates with the change of watch, Lt. Gaeta failed to transmit the new sets of coordinates to the rest of the Fleet.

See Also

• Navigation in the Re-imagined Series
• Propulsion in the Re-imagined Series