Darth Malthael returned to the hangar deck of a Knight-class Star Destroyer. Ground crew composed of B-1 battle droids immediately came over to refuel the Red Comet, replenish its energy, and replace its capacitors.
At that moment, a blue-painted B-1 battle droid commander walked over and said, "Sir, the Low-Temperature Humans suffered severe losses in the battle. We need reinforcements."
"Low-Temperature Humans?" Darth Malthael paused at the strange term.
"Sir, those Low-Temperature Humans have processors of too low a grade. When attacked, they cannot execute their buffering programs. When the warships shake, they hit the consoles and cannot get back up," the B-1 droid commander said.
"Notify planetary command. Send more B-1 droids up," Darth Malthael said.
"Roger, Roger!" The B-1 droid commander gave a military salute that looked rather ridiculous.
Darth Malthael paid no further attention to the B-1 battle droids, who had somehow learned a new term, and headed straight for the warship's bridge. He opened a channel to Commander Volgograd-Kanidi.
"Your Excellency." Volgograd-Kanidi got straight to the point. "Given the current situation, we cannot hold the Annaj system... We do not know exactly how many warships the Galactic Republic has, but according to that young lady from Rendili StarDrive, there cannot be fewer than three hundred."
"So the forces here now are less than half of their total strength?" Darth Malthael's tone was icy. "There are about one hundred and ten warships here now. Including those we destroyed and captured, that makes roughly one hundred and fifty."
"That is only an optimistic estimate. As competitors, I do not believe Kuat Drive Yards would allow Rendili StarDrive's representative to see the full extent of their capabilities," Volgograd-Kanidi said. "And we have only eighty capital ships. Even with over three hundred small warships, we cannot withstand an offensive of