[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4oDDmoWf1M[/youtube][/center]

William was already relaying the data up on the screen on hologram on front of him, they themselves could get to the Eye on sublight while the [url=https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/73/65/27/736527d9850cc9537e0b13ace6eb893b.jpg]fighters[/url] would only be nipping their tails. A judgement call had to be made, it wasn't one he wasn't going to like but it was one he was going to have to do. "Helm, keep present course. Take manual control. NOAH, begin FTL calculations for a single jump out of the Sol system." He turned back to the table as he spoke directly into his earpiece this time. "I commend your initiative chief but we have protocols for this, it's far too risky having them do a stutter to blow out their drives. They do that and once they're through the eye they've lost their only method of FTL travel. I advise you leave Noah to his calculations, I'm sure with this being the first battle scenario the ship has encountered that there will be plenty of systems that require your attention."

He turned back to, what was now, a battle map. Keying in he bypassed the standard process of going through a comms officer and straight into a battlenet that linked all the Arks within range. "This is Admiral William Locke of the [i]Vitae[/i]. Under command authorization Alpha-Zeta-Three-One-Four-Gamma I am initiating the Exodus Protocol. All other Arks should begin jumping away to safe co-ordinates. I am continuing course but will have the protocols primed if and when it is no longer a viable option." He sighed. "Good luck to you all." He didn't get a reply, but then he wasn't expecting one.

[hr]

[i]"Exodus protcol is the last thing any of you want to be initiating." Constantine stood on front of the twelve Admirals, the leaders of tomorrow. "This is why we've drilled it so many times, and we'll likely go over it again before the Arks launch. Exodus Protocol is to be initiated in the event that the Devastators make a move to intercept Arks, or pursue them. If this protocol is initiated all Arks, minus any that can make it to the eye before intercept, will jump to emergency co-ordinates and then begin the journey into deep space using only their jump drives-"[/i]

[hr]

The main concern was the fleet of fighters coming at them, missiles still streamed from the [i]Vitae[/i] attempting to help stem the tide of vessels headed toward the [i]Destiny[/i] but the truth was the sheer volume of fighters was incredible. As their own fighters moved to engage the swarm the blue dots were engulfed in red, not that they were destroyed it was just hard to see their transmissions among all the enemy fighters. Though it wasn't long until they flew back out of the swarm towards the [i]Destiny[/i]. Rapid recall, the [i]Destiny[/i] was jumping out which meant William had little time to prepare to become the main focus of attention. Which meant he had some calls to make. "Comms." 

"Yes sir."

"Relay all messages to their respective locations, have our resident Xenobiologist report to a station where she can get a good scan on these fighters. If they follow Devastators standard operations they're organic, if there's a weakness I want to know it. Tell Ford down in the archives to cut real time transmissions to the outside from public viewing, though keep recording it but with the military encryption key we gave him. Once he's done that I want all we know about the Devastators gathered from the Archives and relayed to my personal quarters with copies available to Mr.Karlson and Dr.Anderson. They're going to need it if they're going to work on being consultants. Though we'll work on that more later. Inform Security and have them ready all disaster bunkers for intake, if we need to give the command to get to the life boats they need to be ready." He turned to [i]Colonel[/i] Anderson. "Once you're at full burn cut engines to save power, we may need to maneuver suddenly. Just keep us lined up to dock with the Eye. Don't worry about what's behind us, that's someone elses job."

With that he typed a code into his panel relaying his comm system through to Calhound. "Chief, I need you to swing by the hangar bay. If possible I need you to have fighters deploy as many missiles as possible in something that resembles a mine field. You have authority to launch additional fighters if necessary however they need to be [i]docked[/i] well before the enemy reaches weapon range." He looked up at the hologram as the [i]Destiny[/i] disappeared, the ships closest to it's hull were pulled inwards by the displacement, several of them crashing into eachother and exploding. It didn't make a massive difference but every little helped at the end of the day. Though this meant one thing, the focus was on the [i]Vitae[/i] now. Which was possibly the only Ark left in the system, with readings from the surface of Earth being unreliable at best and downright depressing at worst. 

"You have four minutes Chief, after that I need all but the two squadrons that are already out there back in their racks as this is going to be a close one." He hit the comm channel closing it. "Weapons!"

"Sir?"

"Once weapon systems have a targeting solutions ready and locked in, as soon as they have a lock they are cleared to engage. Tell them to aim for centre mass, to try and keep the majority of fighters from getting too close." The ship shook lightly as the weapon fire commenced, everyone busying themselves with their duties. They'd make it out of this yet, on the bright side for the [i]Vitaes[/i] first flight she was getting one hell of a stress test.

[sub][sub][i]"Come on baby, you've got this."[/i][/sub][/sub] William couldn't help but mutter under his breath, they were so close. There wasn't any giving up now, the plans were made. Now all he could do was watch for any new variables, he wasn't going to be caught off guard again. They couldn't use the same trick twice against him, now he knew what to expect.