The battle site was over the planet Exodo II. Daala, a former Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance who was removed from power by the Jedi Order after a highly controversial term in office, attempted to regain her hold over the galaxy by usurping control of the Imperial Remnant from Fel. In order to achieve her objective, she forced several members of the Moff Council, including Drikl Lecersen and Tol Getelles, to support her bid for power.
However, Moff Getelles secretly remained loyal to Fel, whom he informed of Daala's plot though subterfuge. Due to Getelles' aid, Fel learned that Daala's forces had converged in the Exodo system to prepare for their eventual military takeover of the Remnant. After swiftly assembling a fleet of Imperial warships, including a vanguard unit from the Empire of the Hand, Fel directed his fleet to ambush and destroy Daala's subversives through a preemptive strike.
Natasi Daala was freed from prison by Mandalore Boba Fett shortly after the Jedi Council removed her from office through force. By then, however, the Jedi had already established a new regime to facilitate a smooth transition of power. With the cooperation of the Senate and the Defense Force, the Jedi established a Triumvirate, an alliance of three leaders who would share the executive responsibilities of the Chief of State. With Coruscant under the full control of the new government, Daala had no other choice than to flee into exile, after which she immediately contemplated her options for regaining her lost power.
With most of the galaxy under the rule of the Galactic Alliance, the only major power that could rival the Alliance's military might was the Imperial Remnant. Daala, once an officer in the former Galactic Empire, sought to reestablish her authority as the new leader of the Remnant. But in order to do so, first she had to remove Jagged Fel from his position as Head of State. In addition to regaining control of the Maw Irregular Fleet, Daala had to search for support amongst the Moffs, the Remnant's regional governors whom she had loathed for decades since the time of the old Empire. Although the feelings of hate were mutual, the Moffs felt little loyalty for Fel, whom they resented as an outsider that was placed in control of the Remnant by the former Jedi Coalition.
Fel was only able to rely on the support of a minority of Moffs; the vast majority of the Moff Council hated him outright. One of the first Moffs to join Daala's cause was Porrak Vansyn, who had been openly vocal about his discontent with Fel's leadership and support for Daala's fall from power. Through the intelligence gathering of Boba Fett, Daala gained the support of several other Moffs, including Drikl Lecersen and Tol Getelles, through blackmail.
However, Daala was unaware of the fact that Getelles was only feigning his loyalty to her in order to infiltrate the conspiracy. Shortly after being confronted by Fel because of the illegal experiments that had been conducted under his supervision, Getelles informed Daala that he shot and killed Fel. In truth, he merely stunned the Head of State and then revealed Daala's plot to seize control of the Imperial Remnant. While Fel amassed his forces in preparation for a preemptive strike on Daala's coup d'état, Getelles fooled Daala into believing that Fel had been assassinated.
Daala fell for Getelles' trick and amassed her party of insurrectionists in order to take control of Bastion and, by extension, the Imperial Remnant. Upon rendezvousing in the Exodo system, Daala's primary force was composed of the warships that comprised the Maw Irregular Fleet, which included the Chimaera, a Venator-class Star Destroyer, a Republic-class cruiser, an Acclamator-class assault ship, several frigates, three corvettes of two classes, and twelve wings of starfighters. Due to high costs, none of the fleet's ships were able to retain their advanced weaponry.
The Maw Irregular Fleet was supplemented with the Remnant starships, such as an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer, an Immobilizer 418 cruiser, nearly three dozen smaller vessels (including frigates, corvettes, an escort cruiser, and a starfighter carrier), and nine wings of starfighters under the command of Moff Lecersen. While still under the pretense of supporting Daala, Getelles contributed his force of four Star Destroyers, a carrier, eight starfighter wings, and nearly a dozen combined frigates and corvettes to the insurrectionists' fleet. Moffs Vansyn and Trevin brought together twenty more vessels. The combined main force ultimately totalled nearly twenty Star Destroyers.
While Daala remained ignorant of Getelles' true allegiance, Jagged Fel and his loyalist faction amassed a fleet of Remnant warships. The Empire of the Hand, a fellow successor state to the first Galactic Empire, dispatched a vanguard of ships to aid in Fel's attempt to hold onto power. With the support of Admiral Vitor Reige and the protection of Tahiri Veila, a fallen Jedi Knight and former Sith Lady, Fel personally directed his ships as they converged on Daala's position in the Exodo system.
Daala and her allies, caught completely by surprise, were initially unable to offer sufficient resistance to launch an effective counterattack against the Remnant assault. As Fel's forces attacked from the front, Getelles' revealed his true loyalties and directed his Star Destroyers to attack the Maw Irregular Fleet. At first, the battle proceeded well in Fel's favor. But just as Daala was on the verge of total defeat with most of her fleet obliterated, Lecersen's ships managed to destroy Fel's main command center, the hollowed-out moon Boreleo, including the Gilad Pellaeon that was hidden inside the natural satellite of Exodo II.
The irreparable damage caused to the Pellaeon forced Jagged Fel, Tahiri Veila and Ashik—Fel's Chiss aide—to abandon the doomed flagship. Command of the Remnant fleet was passed over to the Bloodfin once the Head of State was safely aboard. Yet despite Fel's survival of the Pellaeon's destruction, the Remnant ships fell into an increasingly brutal fight against Daala's forces, with neither side gaining a tactical advantage to achieve a decisive victory.