When they left Pitt's quarters, there was a team of NOVAs waiting for them as well as an old, familiar face.

"Admiral Pitt," Captain Amiri Essa said. "Wish we were catching up under better circumstances, sir."

"Captain Essa," Pitt said, smiling and extending his hand. "It must be bad if they sent you."

"Let's move," Perez said, nodding to the other NOVAs and starting down the plush corridor where most of the flag officers and high-ranking civilians had their quarters.

The procession entered a private lift and was whisked down to the lower docking complex without needing to stop at any other decks. Pitt didn't know the specifics of their exit plan as per the protocol and didn't bother asking where he'd be going. That would be something he'd discover once they were already underway.

When the doors to the lift opened, Pitt had a moment of vertigo as he looked out the enormous span of clear composite panels that gave an unimpeded view of the docking complex below, and then the planet of New Sierra underneath them. As he followed the others, he saw there were two more groups being escorted by NOVA teams heading for their respective evacuations. He could also make out three Prowlers and half a dozen Broadheads docked ahead of them, which would almost certainly be their ride out of the system.

"PM Marcum, I'll be escorting you myself in one of the Broadheads," Captain Essa said. "We'll be flying out to meet the Nemesis. Admiral Pitt, you will go with Admiral Wright aboard her personal Prowler with half of this NOVA team. The rest of the team will accompany Director Perez in his Broadhead to wherever it is he will be going."

"Secretive to the end, huh?" Marcum asked.

"As I must be," Perez said. "Our private council is now unfortunately entering into phase two, lady and gentlemen. I trust you have everything you will need for our secondary protocols?"

"Of course," Pitt said. Wright and Marcum just nodded.

"Then we will give ground now so we may win the war in the end," Perez said. "Hopefully, this is just a false alarm, and we'll be back here in a few days laughing over drinks."

"But you don't think so," Wright said.

"It doesn't matter," Perez said. "Just stick to the plan and trust nobody who isn't one of us or the Fleet commanders we've already vetted."

"Good luck to you two," Marcum said. "Be safe."

"You as well," Pitt said, shaking his hand. "I'll admit, I'm a bit jealous you're heading out to the Nemesis. Don't give Captain Barrett a hard time. You're not a Fleet officer anymore." Marcum just winked at him, shook Celesta's hand, and followed Essa down the gangway to his waiting Broadhead.

"You ready, sir?" Celesta asked.

"As I'll ever be," Pitt said.

They walked down the gangway into the Sentinel-class Prowler that had been put aside for Admiral Wright's private use. The ship had slightly more luxurious quarters, which wasn't saying much on a Prowler, and a crew vetted by the CIS until there was no possibility left they had sympathetic leanings towards the ESA. The fact that the ship's captain was someone who had served under then-Captain Wright as the tactical officer on the Icarus also made him feel better.