Chapter 70
Rendili Orbit, Rendili System
Rendili Sector
Rear Admiral Calli Trilm could not care one mote about the fate of Rendili. Empress Teta’s secession attempt has emboldened the more brazen planetary governments to defect to the Separatist Alliance, for a whole multitude of reasons. Some, simply put, may believe the Republic to be losing the war, with so many Separatist fleets rampaging through the Core as it was. Others, perhaps, had always had Separatist loyalties, but were never able to act on them due to their proximity to Coruscant.
Or some, like Rendili, simply feel unrecognised by the Republic Senate, and neglected in favour of their competitors… From that perspective, the Confederacy had every reason to secure Rendili’s loyalty; after all, the government’s Rendili StarDrive was one of the Kuat Drive Yard’s few competitors in the field of military engineering, possessing a rich shipbuilding tradition that the relatively young Confederate shipyard industry desperately needed.
Alas, it was not Calli Trilm’s mission to defend Rendili from the consequences of their own ill-conceived rebellion. Maybe the Independent Provisional Government expected more systems to fall into lockstep with them, but that had failed to be the case. Admiral Honor Salima’s counter-campaign in the Galactic Interior has made certain of that, and Calli Trilm theorised that the myriad worlds teetering on the fence between Loyalism and Separatism were all patiently observing the outcome of the now-inevitable battle to decide which side they fall towards.
Rather, it was her mission to steal away with the Bulwark Fleet back into the safety of Separatist space. She had run havoc throughout the Arrowhead in search of the dastardly old Sullustan already, and she was in no mood to sightsee even more of the same old Core systems. So long as she makes away with the lives of Dua Ningo and herself, she could care less how the Republic decides Rendili’s fate.
Unfortunately, the Republic would not so easily allow her to escape. Even now, Obi-Wan Kenobi, whom she had given the slip twice now, was bivouacked at Exodeen blocking their south; and the Coruscant Home Fleet, which had snowballed in size with every star system they visited to some three-hundred ships, now stood over the corpses of Calli’s auxiliaries at Recopia to their north. Over half-a-thousand warships in total, and neither were likely to be so accommodating to her sudden departure.
Even with the remnants of the Bulwark Fleet, Calli still only commanded half that number.
Except, the Rendili Home Defence Fleet commanded two-hundred. Too powerful, too politically important for Coruscant to wrest away, the Rendili Defence Fleet was virtually untouched by the war, and her vessels were state-of-the-art and in perfectly mint condition. The perfect force equaliser; if Calli could convince them to help her escape–and leave their home vulnerable to Republic retribution in the process.