Wilek Nereus

Wilek Nereus (died 4 ABY) was the Imperial governor of Bakura during that planet's brief time in the Galactic Empire (1 ABY-4 ABY).

As a young man, Nereus was fascinated in the dentition and parasitology of nonhuman species, two interests that he would continue into his adult life: he enjoyed removing teeth from animals (or, later, human political opponents) he had personally killed as trophies, and he liked to dispose those who got in his way by infecting them with various alien parasites. By 4 BBY, he had teeth from predators from seventeen worlds, including the Bakuran cratsch and the ketrann of Alk'lellish III.

As an officer in the Imperial Starfleet, Nereus eventually became the captain of a cruiser; his subsequent appointment as governor of Bakura was his first political position. He attempted to imitate what he believed an Old Republic politician would act like, but he lacked both the dignity and self control. The entire Belden family were among the Bakurans he was responsible for eliminating or subduing in his own fashion.

During his tenure as governor, Nereus' main priorities were to increase taxation and ensure increased output of Bakur RepulsorCorp, the main reason the Empire occupied Bakura. In keeping with his ideal of an Old Republic politician, Nereus let the Bakuran police queel riots as often as possible without deploying the garrison's stormtroopers. During this time, he developed both a sexual attraction towards Gaeriel Captison and an addiction to namana, both of which he tried to moderate.

In the Battle of Bakura, Nereus only agreed to cooperation with the Rebel Alliance due to the fact that his fear of the Ssi-ruuk overpowered his loathing of the Rebellion. He initially disbelieved the report of the defeat at Endor, but when Admiral Prittick confirmed it, Nereus planned to execute Hna Solo, surrender Luke Skywalker to the Ssi-ruuk as their appeasement to stop their attack, and hand over leia Organa to the next emperor to curry favor.

Nereus himself had no urge to try to become emperor, knowing that he had no chance and that to push for the throne and fail meant death. Instead, he arrested Organa, Prime Minister Yeorg Captison, and Senior Senator Orn Belden (possibly indirectly killing the elderly Belden by refusing him medical aid), planning to use Yeorg to pressure his niece, Gaeriel, into both becoming his mistress and calling on the Bakuran Senate to elect him the new Prime Minister.

However, his plan was quashed due to the eruption of the Bakuran Revolution, when he was captured by Eppie Belden. 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 Rebels.

Nereus, shocked to see that Skywalker had survived both the Ssi-ruuk and the olabrian trichoids he had infected the Jedi with. Nereus managed to grab a blaster and fire at Skywalker, but Skywalker's lightsaber reflected the bolt back, thus killing its shooter.

Appearances

 * The Truce at Bakura