Wilek Nereus Wilek Nereus was a Human male Imperial governor of Bakura during its short tenure within the Galactic Empire . Following the annexation of Bakura by the Empire in 1 BBY , Nereus administrated the planet and wielded greater authority than even the Bakuran Prime Minister and the local Senate . A staunch Imperial loyalist , he despised the Rebel Alliance and viewed alien species as objects . In 4 ABY , Bakura was attacked by the saurian Ssi - ruu k from the Unknown Regions . With the Bakuran defenses overwhelmed , Nereus dispatched a message drone to the Imperial fleet in the Endor system . Following a truce with Alliance delegates , the Imperials and Bakurans were able to defeat the Ssi - ruuvi invaders . No longer needing the Alliance ' s help , Nereus then turned on his former Alliance allies and destroyed several of their ships . However , he was deposed and captured by Bakuran revolutionaries . In an ensuing confrontation with Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker , Nereus was killed . Biography . Imperial career . Wilek Nereus was a male Human from the moon OrulShai III , which orbited the resort world of Gyosha in the Galactic Core . At some point in his life , he joined the Imperial Navy and served at various locations across the Outer Rim Territories , including the Jospro sector , Alk ' lellish III , and Arkonne III . Sometime during his tour of duty on Arkonne III , he developed a relationship with Divina Quri Adner , who was assassinated by her business rival Phean Tic ' Karcta . Nereus placed an Imperial bounty on Phean , whom he personally killed . In his youth , he developed an interest in the dentition and parasitology of Non - Human species which he would continue into adult life . By 4 BBY , he had collected tooth samples of predators from seventeen worlds , including the Bakuran cratsch , the ketrann of Alk ' lellish III , the cooha of Gandeid IV , and the orycat s of Orryxia . He used his knowledge of parasitology to infect his opponents with various parasites , including olabrian trichoid s and adipose louse eggs in his possession , considering the parasites to be potentially useful for disciplinary purposes . As he rose through the ranks of the Imperial Navy , Nereus eventually became the captain of a cruiser . Prior to his tour of duty on Bakura , Nereus served on Berea in the Elrood sector alongside the Alderaanian Imperial officer Conn Doruggan . The frozen and mountainous world was a penal settlement for captured Rebel prisoners who were used as slave miners by Imperial Mining , Limited . In 0 ABY , Bakura was occupied by Imperial forces , who sought access to its repulsorlift industry , which was dominated by the Bakur RepulsorCorp . The Imperials also sought access to Bakura ' s repulsor coil industry and ore from the planet ' s two mineral - rich satellites for the construction of the second Death Star . The remote planet in the Shiritoku Spur near the Unknown Regions had been settled by Human colonists from the Core world of Hemei IV around 150 BBY . Due to internal unrest among the Bakuran people , Imperial forces were able to quickly conquer the planet with minimal resistance and losses . Shortly after the annexation , Nereus was dispatched to Bakura to serve as its governor , marking his first foray into politics . Personally , Nereus was disappointed , since he had hoped to be assigned to the resort world of Gyosha in the Core Worlds . His arrival at the capital Salis D ' aar was disrupted by protests . Later , Nereus was able to reach a new accord with the Bakuran leadership , including Prime Minister Yeorg Captison and the Bakuran Senate , who agreed to cooperate with the new authorities . One of his first actions as Bakura ' s governor was to order the execution and punishment of members of the Belden family . Due to their sympathies and support for the Alliance during the Imperial invasion , Nereus ordered Rebel operative Roviden Belden and his mother Eppie Belden executed . While he was successful in terminating Roviden ' s life , the dead man ' s father Orn Belden pleaded for his wife Eppie ' s life . In a twisted gesture of mercy , he spared Eppie but infected her with a debilitating parasite that destroyed her mind . Due to Orn ' s position as a senator for the Bakur RepulsorCorp , he too was spared but had his voice box destroyed to ensure compliance . During his tenure as governor , he attempted to imitate his Republic predecessors by keeping the deployment of stormtroopers in law enforcement at a minimum and maximizing the usage of the local Bakuran police . Nereus ' s main priorities were to increase taxation and ensure increased output of the Bakur RepulsorCorp , the main reason the Empire occupied Bakura . As his tenure continued , he developed both a sexual attraction towards Gaeriel Captison and an addiction to namana , both of which he tried to moderate . He also established his own personal bodyguard , which consisted of sixteen stormtroopers who had received special training at the Bounty Hunter Guild ' s Skine Bounty Hunter College . He named his bodyguard squad the Protectorate . The Bakura Incident . In 4 ABY , Bakura was attacked and blockaded by a Ssi - ruu vi fleet under Admiral Ivpikkis . The Ssi - ruuk were a technologically - advanced saurian species from the Unknown Regions who utilized captives as sources for entechment — an excruciating and lethal process whereby a sentient ' s life energies were mechanically drained into a machine . In the early hours of the invasion , the Ssi - ruuk destroyed half of the garrison ' s ships and captured all outposts within the Bakura system excluding Bakura itself . Desperate , Nereus dispatched an Elegance message drone , carrying a coded SOS transmission , to the Imperial presence in the Endor system , hoping to alert Emperor Palpatine . However , the Imperials had been defeated during the pivotal Battle of Endor , which saw the destruction of the second Death Star and the Sith Order . Instead , the message was received by members of the Rebel Alliance — including Luke Skywalker , Mon Mothma , and Admiral Ackbar — who decided to dispatch a task force for moral reasons . Under Skywalker , the Alliance task force arrived in the Bakura system . Several Alliance delegates including Skywalker , Leia Organa and Han Solo arrived at the capital city Salis D ' aar , where they were greeted by Nereus himself . The Governor ' s first encounter with the Alliance delegates was a sour experience , as Nereus received news of the death of Palpatine . Initially skeptical , he accepted it when he learned that Darth Vader was behind it , since he distrusted the Sith Order . Per local custom and Imperial regulation , C - 3PO and R2 - D2 were fitted with restraining bolts . The Rebels were then brought to speak at a special session at the Bakuran Senate . During the session , Imperials , Bakurans , and Rebels alike were shown a recording sent by the Ssi - ruuk by their Human puppet Dev Sibwarra and were horrified to see how entechment worked ; the individual ' s life energy was sapped from his body and used to power war machinery . The Alliance party then iterated that they were there to help Bakura and offered an official truce , which Nereus said would be discussed . Across Bakura , there was a general feeling of paranoia among the populace , who feared the terror of entechment . That evening , the Prime Minister Yeorg Captison , organized a dinner where both the Rebels and Nereus were invited . Among those who attended were his wife , Tiree , and his niece , Gaeriel . Tiree stressed the importance of the dinner , which would give the Imperials and Rebels a chance to discuss matters privately , and also expressed concern for Nereus ' s interest in Gaeriel ; the latter sentiment was also held by Gaeriel . Midway through the dinner , Nereus received a transmission from Imperial Admiral Prittick informing him of the veracity of the Rebels ' claims of Imperial defeat at Endor . Faced with the prospect of no Imperial aid to stave off a full Ssi - ruuk attack , Nereus agreed to an official truce . For the first time , representatives of the Alliance and Empire shook hands , though Nereus was far from happy about the deal . Nereus also warned the Rebels that any attempts at what he considered treasonous or seditious activity would be met sternly . An unworkable truce . Nereus himself had no urge to try to become Emperor , knowing that he had no chance and that to push for the throne and failure meant death . However , another opportunity in the Governor ' s favor soon arrived from an unlikely source — the Ssi - ruuk themselves . Licking their wounds from the joint Alliance - Imperial attack , the Ssi - ruuvi leadership decided to make a covert deal with Nereus by proposing a full withdrawal in exchange for the handover of the Force - strong " Outsider " — Skywalker . As part of Firwirrung ' s plan , Skywalker would be bound to a modified entechment rig and forced to drain the life energies of millions of sentients from light years away . Their human puppet Sibwarra contacted the governor to make the offer . Nereus accepted , given his hatred of the Rebels and as part of his secret plan to stab his Rebel colleagues in the back . In private , he planned to execute Solo , surrender Skywalker to the Ssi - ruuk as their appeasement to stop their attack , and hand over Leia Organa to the next Emperor to curry favor . However , Nereus also had no intention of allowing the Ssi - ruuk to survive and decided to double - cross the aliens by infecting Skywalker with parasitic olabrian trichoids . His plan involved infecting Skywalker ' s food with tiny olabian trichoid eggs . Skywalker would be captured by the Ssi - ruuk and brought aboard one of their starships . Meanwhile , the rapidly - growing parasites would hatch and eat their way into the host ' s heart , with death occurring quickly . It was hoped by Nereus that the Ssi - ruuk would retain Skywalker ' s body long enough for the trichoids to multiply and escape into the shipboard population ; infecting and killing more Ssi - ruuk . He would then add their teeth to his own personal collection . His opportunity came when Senator Gaeriel , who had developed a nascent attraction for Skywalker , went to visit the Jedi at his apartment . She ordered lunch for them , routing the meal through a different location so as to avoid attracting attention . However , she was unsuccessful in escaping Nereus ' s attention , as the governor had the meal intercepted and inoculated with the trichoids . Meanwhile , Leia Organa , Yeorg Captison , and Senior Senator Orn Belden were out on a private airspeeder cruise . Using a Disruption Bubble Generator to prevent Imperial eavesdropping , they discussed the status of the Bakuran resistance , as well as the likelihood of Bakura revolting against Imperial rule . However , the Imperials caught hold of this , and Nereus had stormtroopers arrest them on suspicion of treason . Despite Organa ' s brief attempts at resistance , the entire party was captured . Orn Belden was killed during the interrogation by Nereus . As word of Belden ' s capture spread , pockets of resistance began springing up around Bakura , as the statesman ' s capture had ignited flames of defiance in the Bakurans . Protests occurred and worsened after news of Belden ' s death was leaked . Nereus placed Salis D ' aar under curfew , but the measure was of little effect . Meanwhile , Organa was rescued from a rural retreat by Han Solo , who then escaped in their transport , the " Millennium Falcon " . Later , Skywalker was captured by the Ssi - ruuk during a skirmish at the spaceport while defending Gaerial . However , with Skywalker now in their hands , the Ssi - ruuk rescinded their secret deal with Nereus by launching a full scale attack on Bakura an hour later , striking at the orbital station that hovered over Bakura . Meanwhile , Gaeriel was rescued by the local Imperial staff . In the space above Bakura , the joint Alliance and Imperial warships launched a devastating counter - offensive against the Ssi - ruuvi fleet . Due to the chaos onboard the flagship " Shriwirr " caused by Skywalker and Sibwarra ' s uprising and their fear of dying on an unconsecrated world , the Ssi - ruuvi were unable to continue the fight and were forced into a retreat . Every ship in the fleet fled for the safety of Ssi - ruuvi home space except the flagship " Shriwirr " . For a moment , it seemed that victory would be achieved with the neutralization of the Ssi - ruuvi threat . A desperate gamble . With the vanquishing of the Ssi - ruuvi , Nereus then hatched his secret plan of back - stabbing his enemies by ordering Thanas to turn his flagship " Dominant " turbolaser batteries on the Rebel Alliance flagship " Flurry " , destroying it along with several Rebel starfighters . The Alliance fleet was then trapped in a bottleneck between the " Dominant " and Bakura . Confident of Imperial victory , Nereus summoned Gaeriel into his office in an attempt to ally her with his faction in the government . Gaeriel was initially repulsed by his mannerisms and his iron - fisted plans for Bakura , but managed to maintain a diplomatic front . Nereus then revealed to her the existence of olabrian trichoid larvae embedded in her and Skywalker ' s lungs and had the larva in Gaeriel removed . Nereus also intimated that he had used a parasite to debilitate Eppie Belden years earlier as punishment for her seditious activities . Giving her the chance to join him as his mistress and approve the governor as Prime Minister , Nereus also threatened Gaeriel should she not cooperate . He then threatened to shoot Yeorg Captison , whom he accused of treachery , unless the two yielded to his demands . However , his plan was quashed due to the eruption of the Bakuran Revolution . Bakuran resistance fighters under the leadership of the elderly Eppie Belden sprang into action and began attacking the garrison compound . Wilek ' s personal stormtrooper bodyguards were incapacitated by a painful electronic alarm system ringing through their helmets . The elderly 123 - year - old Eppie Belden and several other resistance members entered the room . Much to Nereus ' surprise , she was fully recovered , leading the resistance effort and already cognizant of her husband ' s death . Outnumbered , Nereus surrendered to Belden and her resistance fighters . Although the revolutionaries initially wanted to form a revolutionary tribunal to try him , they ceded what power they had to the Senate and agreed to hand over Nereus to the Alliance . During a brief war of words with Princess Leia , Nereus claimed that he still commanded three thousand ground - based troops and that Imperial survivors were landing on Bakura in escape pods . She counteracted by stating that Thanas and the " Dominant " had surrendered to Rebel control and that its weapon systems were aimed directly at the garrison . Earlier , Skywalker had used the Force to persuade the " Dominant " captain , Thanas , to ally with them by sending feelings of peace and serenity . Admiring the heroism of his former foes and seeing the underlining flaws in his superior Nereus , Thanas ordered his ship to break formation and open fire on the " Shriwirr " , as a gesture of cooperation with the Alliance . In the middle of the spat , a rejuvenated Skywalker stepped onto the scene . Having sensed the presence of the trichoid larvae in his body , Skywalker had used the Force to eliminate the parasites . Nereus , shocked to see that Skywalker had survived both the Ssi - ruuk and the olabrian trichoids he had infected the Jedi with , managed to grab a blaster and fire at Skywalker , but Skywalker ' s lightsaber deflected the bolt back , thus killing the governor . With Nereus ' s death , his dreams for Imperial domination over Bakura were ended . Following his death , the Imperial garrison on Bakura surrendered to the Alliance and the Bakurans and was allowed to evacuate for transit to a neutral location . Under the leadership of the new Prime Minister Gaeriel Captison , Bakura joined the Rebel Alliance ' s successor state , the New Republic . Nereus ' second - in - command , Thanas , relinquished his Imperial rank and defected to the Alliance . Personality and traits . As with many Imperial governors during the Rebellion era , Wilek Nereus displayed a profound intolerance and an unabashed arrogance towards " inferiors , " especially aliens and members of the illegal Rebel Alliance . This was evident in his reluctance to deal with both Alliance delegates and the Ssi - ruuvi expeditionary command . Reflecting the influence of Human High Culture so prevalent in Palpatine ' s Galactic Empire , Nereus disliked having to work with aliens on equal terms . One of his allies in the Bakuran Senate was Rennt Govia , who was an unabashed Humanocentrist and supported his coup attempt . He was only willing to deal with either of the two when he had little choice or when it suited his fortunes . When dealing with both the Ssi - ruuk and Alliance , he arranged to have them double - crossed as soon as they were no longer of use to him . This was evident in his scheme to infect the saurians with olabrian trichoid parasites and his treacherous backstabbing when he ordered Thanas to open fire on the Alliance flagship " Flurry " during the Bakura Incident . Despite these inherent flaws , Nereus saw himself as liberal and moderate compared to other Imperial governors . He attempted to imitate what he believed an Galactic Republic politician would act like , but he lacked both the dignity and self - control to do so . In keeping with his ideal of an Old Republic politician , Nereus let the Bakuran police quell riots as often as possible without deploying the garrison ' s stormtroopers . One sentiment he shared with many of his Bakuran subjects was his dislike of the Jedi who had been wiped out in the Great Jedi Purge . However , he was equally distrustful of other Force - sensitive creeds especially the Sith Order . In his private life , Nereus was sexually attracted to the Bakuran senator Gaeriel Captison , though the latter disliked his methods and views . Toward the end of the Ssi - ruuvi invasion , he attempted to coerce Captison into becoming his mistress by threatening to kill her uncle , Prime Minister Yeorg , if she refused . However , he was stopped in his tracks by the timely intervention of a group of Bakuran revolutionaries under Eppie Belden , who subsequently apprehended him . He was also addicted to namana — a fruit unique solely to that planet . He was fascinated with the dentition and parasitology of nonhuman species ; two interests that he had begun in his youth . He enjoyed hunting exotic animals on various worlds and collecting their teeth . Later , he even turned his attention to Human political opponents and considered collecting Ssi - ruuvi jaws during the Bakura Incident . In terms of parasitology , he liked to dispose those who got in his way by infecting them with various alien parasites including adipose louse and olabrian trichoids . Nereus used an unidentified parasite from the Jospro sector to debilitate Eppie Belden , destroying her mind and reducing her to a state of senility . However , she was later healed of the affliction by Skywalker ' s ministrations . Nereus also infected the Jedi Skywalker with olabrian trichoids in an attempt to eliminate both him and the Ssi - ruuk . Still , he was bested by Skywalker who used the Force to eliminate the parasites . Behind the scenes . Wilek Nereus was first created by Kathy Tyers for " The Truce at Bakura " in 1994 . The novel was the character ' s sole appearance in the Star Wars Expanded Universe media empire , since he was killed off at the end of the story . His backstory was further developed by Paul Sudlow in two " Galaxywide NewsNets " articles which were published in " Star Wars Adventure Journal 5 " and " Star Wars Adventure Journal 6 " . More of his backstory was developed in the February 1996 " The Truce at Bakura Sourcebook " which was written jointly by Tyers , Eric S . Trautmann and Bill Smith . He was also first illustrated in this book by Jordi Ensign . On July 21 1998 , he was referenced in Daniel Wallace ' s " The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons " in the Bakura chapter . In April 2000 , Nereus was referenced in Kevin J . Anderson and Daniel Wallace ' s " The Essential Chronology " while he was illustrated by Bill Hughes . In March 24 , 2004 , he was referenced in Wizards of the Coast ' s role - playing book " Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds " which was published for the " Star Wars Roleplaying Game " . Nereus was also mentioned in Wallace ' s revised " The New Essential Chronology " which was published on October 25 , 2005 .