The Separatist forces tracked Obi-Wan Kenobi, Siri Tachi, Anakin Skywalker, and Padmé Amidala by means of a tracer device planted in a foolproof codebreaker. This had been brought by Talesan Fry, who agreed to turn the codebreaker over to the Old Republic at a hidden base on Azure. The base had meager defenses, and was badly outnumbered by the huge Separatist fleet. The Republic forces had to surrender control of the planet. General Solomahal, the general of the base, was determined not to let the codebreaker into Separatist hands, and before he was captured, he managed to destroy it.