Although they had said they would immediately occupy Bilbrin Planet, the Commerce Guild Fleet led by Mal-Tuk still spent around ten days doing so.
Because many of the armed asteroids around Bilbrin Planet operated automatically, he had to clear a path through those obstructing armed asteroids before he could land on Bilbrin Planet.
Seizing this time, Lieutenant General Thrawn led the Imperial fleet back to Palanci Planet, making full use of the respite bought at the cost of all of Bilbrin Planet. He continued requisitioning warships from elsewhere and rotating damaged ships to the rear, even taking it upon himself to strike a trade-in deal for warships with Kuat Drive Yards.
Kuat Drive Yards had always been very close to Dunn Vesex. Dunn's wife, Lila Vesex, was now the Chief Engineer of Kuat Drive Yards. Therefore, when Dunn's most capable subordinate had a need, Little Kuat, the head of Kuat Drive Yards, naturally gave his full support.
Kuat Drive Yards prioritized delivering a batch of warships that had not yet been delivered to Thrawn, then took back a batch of severely damaged warships from him and pushed back the delivery schedule for the warships by three months.
Wilhuff Tarkin and the others wanted new warships, but Kuat told them that, due to the fall of Fondor Planet, a large number of warship components were missing, so the construction schedule had to be shortened. Even when Tarkin and the others sent an investigation team over, Kuat could show them those severely damaged warships as unfinished vessels, leaving them with no grounds for complaint.
As for making damaged warships look unfinished while also making them appear brand-new, such matters were naturally routine for an industrial giant like Kuat.
Not only that, Lieutenant General Thrawn also organized an evacuation on Palanci Planet, transferring