"Escort me" order: question/problem

[Failed Experiment]

Greetings!
Last time I played Avorion, I had two ships ( AI one was ordered to escort me) and I attacked pirate fleet. After a while, I retreated outside firing range of pirates to recharge shields of both of my vessels, when I got notification of large Xsotan fleet aproaching.
I stayed away and when Xsotan destroyed pirates, I tried to collect resources, but I did stupid mistake and allowed my salvaging laser to fire, which provoked the Xsotan to open fire.
I immidiately warped out of the sector, but because I took several hits, my second ship was already in "combat mode," didn't follow my jump and before I could arrive, my valuable ship got destroyed (I atually arrived soon enough, but the ship was ignoring my order "escort me" and stayed in place, any ideas why?).
So first, I have a question: is this (staying behind) meant to be gameplay mechanic (flagship has to retreat from battle at sublight speed, so it can retreat entire fleet, that is otherwise engaged in battle and jumping from the center of the battle means sacrificing everything) and if not, could I ask for solution of this situation?
I see two options:
Option one: (or in this case more likely fix): ship ordered to escort ship jumps even immidiately after escorted vessel took hit.
Option two: two more orders owner of the ship can select: "follow me" and "follow target" - ship just follows target ship and even if followed ship takes hits, AI ship doesn't open fire and still follows it.