Emergency jump coordinates
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Emergency Jump Coordinates; also "Emergency Standby Coordinates", "Escape Coordinates" or simply "emergency coordinates"; are part of standard Colonial Fleet fleet maneuver doctrine. They are being referred to by the letters of the Colonial wireless alphabet, namely as "Alpha"Template:Ref, "Bravo", "Constellation" and so on. This indicates that multiple sets of Emergency Jump Coordinates can exist simultaneously, to be used in different contingencies or as part of a larger battle plan. They are distributed by the flagship among a group of ships. Emergency Jump Coordinates provide that there are known and predefined rallying points for multiple contingencies in case of emergencies.
The authority to order a jump to the escape coordinates rest 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 Tactical Officer, in the case of Galactica, Lt. Felix Gaeta. They are updated on every watch with new starfixes to compensate for inertial drift and then distributed to the fleet. Template:Ref
Appearances in the Re-imagined Series
Emergency Jump Coordinates were 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" Col. 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 her jump coordinates with the change of watch, Lt. Gaeta failed to transmit the new sets of coordinates to the rest of the fleet.
Sources
Template:Note When Tigh orders the jump in "Scattered", Dee mentions "Emergency Coordinates Alpha". Given that it is real-life practice of differentiating between multiple versions of the same thing by adding CWA or latin letters or numbers, it seems logical to assume that doctrine provides for the existence of more than one set.
Template:Note This is mentioned by Col. Tigh to his wife, Ellen in "Scattered".