Nakirre

Nakirre was a Kilji who served the Kilji Illumine, the nation of his species, as its ruler, holding the title of generalirius. He commanded the Illumine Kilhorde, the Illumine's battle fleet, and his flagship, the Kilji war cruiser Whetstone. He followed the Kilji way of order and enlightenment, the Illumine's religious beliefs, and enlightened several Kiljis—including Vassal Four, a pilot, a weapons operator, and a another Kilji—to the Kilji way, turning them into his vassals, who served him aboard the Whetstone. In 18 BBY, Nakirre allied himself with the coordinator of the Grysk species, an operative known as "Jixtus," who promised to teach the Illumine the concept of conquest and guide the Kilhorde's religious conquests in the Unknown Regions. In exchange, Nakirre allowed Jixtus to travel aboard the Whetstone during their travels in the Unknown Regions.

The pair traveled to the Unknown Regions' Zyzek system with the approval of the Illumine's Kilji Overlords in an attempt to contact the four nations that Jixtus believed could be conquered quickly and easily. While the Whetstone orbited the planet Zyzek, the Chiss heavy cruiser Springhawk arrived, and its commander, the Chiss Senior Captain Mitth'raw'nuruodo, core name "Thrawn," broadcast a message. Thrawn told those present that he possessed Watith prisoners and that he sought to give them to their people—a fact that Jixtus believed to be untrue. Although his Grysk ally advised against it, Nakirre spoke with Thrawn, telling the Chiss about the Kilji way and requested the prisoners so that the generalirius could return them to their home, as the Kilji enlightenment dictated that he should help others. The senior captain refused, prompting the generalirius to command his vassals to prepare his flagship for battle.

Zyzek System Defense, an organization that protected the Zyzek system, sent patrol ships to confront the Springhawk and Whetstone while requesting for them to stand down. Nakirre contemplated the possibility of destroying the newcomers but decided against it, as killing those aboard the vessels would prevent their enlightenment to the Kilji way. The generalirius subsequently complied with Zyzek System Defense's request and vowed to bring the "fuller" enlightenment of the Kiljis to the Chiss Ascendancy nation.

The Whetstone left the Zyzek system, traveling to the Ascendancy planet Avidich, where Nakirre attempted to meet Patriel Thistrian of the Ascendancy's ruling Mitth family and speak of the Kilji way to him; however, the Patriel ordered the Kilji's war cruiser away. The generalirius believed Jixtus had lied to him and asked the Grysk why they had not enlightened the Chiss at Avidich, prompting Jixtus to instruct the generalirius to bring his flagship to a nearby star system, where he claimed he would answer all of the Kilji's questions. Nakirre, unwilling to give Jixtus enough time to prepare an explanation or an apology, had Vassal One bring the war cruiser to the system in ten minutes instead of the thirty-five minutes the journey would have taken.

After they arrived at the system, the Grysk operative summoned the FateSpinner, his Shatter-class WarMaster flagship, threatening to use it to destroy the Kilhorde. Revealing that Nakirre's people lived at the Grysks' pleasure, Jixtus commanded his Kilji ally to follow his every order, although he insisted that he would still help the generalirius enlighten the Unknown Regions' peoples. The pair then traveled to the Ascendancy's planet of Rhigar and met with Captain Clarr'os'culry ("Roscu") of the Clarr family aboard the Whetstone. Jixtus presented a recording of a battle between the Chiss Dasklo and Xodlak families in an attempt to sow discord among the Ascendancy's families. Nakirre offered to defend the Clarr from other families with Kilji warships; however, Roscu refused the offer and exited the war cruiser.

After Jixtus told the generalirius that the Chiss had attacked a Grysk shipyard, Nakirre suggested that he could task some of the Illumine's vessels with defending the facility; however, the Grysk scorned the Kilji's offer and reminded his ally that his only purpose was to conquer nations bordering the Ascendancy so that when the Grysks instigated a Chiss civil war, Chiss refugees could not retreat to those nations.

While the pair visited several Chiss worlds and met with many Chiss officials, Jixtus dispatched Illumine General Crofyp's task force to the Unknown Regions' Rapacc system. The task force, consisting of Crofyp's war cruiser Anvil and Colonel Tildnis's Kilji picket cruiser Hammer, attempted to capture a group of refugees that had taken refuge on the planet of Rapacc; however, the Springhawk destroyed the Anvil, and the Hammer fled to the Unknown Regions' "Sunrise" system". There, the Paccosh-commandeered Nikardun blockade frigate Aeloss crew, including Thrawn, boarded the picket cruiser, stealing data on the Kilhorde.

Shortly afterward, Nakirre and Jixtus journeyed to the Chiss planet of Ornfra. While on their way there, the generalirius mocked his ally, implying that Jixtus could not destroy the Ascendancy; in response, the Grysk threatened to crush the Illumine like boulders and twist the Kilji culture, which Nakirre believed to be impossible, as the unenlightened could not twist the enlightened. The generalirius subsequently expressed that he wanted to turn the Chiss into one of the Grysks' allies; however, Jixtus did not, promising to end the Ascendancy at Ornfra by killing Roscu. However, the captain survived the Grysk attempt on her life.

While the Kilhorde moved to conquer the nations Jixtus sought to close off as havens to which Chiss could retreat, the senior captain shared the data he retrieved from the Hammer with the Paataatus Hiveborn nation. As the Kilji conquests took place to the southeast of the Ascendancy, they also took place to the north and northwest of the Hiveborn's territory, which the nation deemed unacceptable. The nation sent a Paataatus attack fleet to destroy the Kilhorde, obliterating it and liberating the worlds and peoples it had conquered.

As his field commanders had mapped the progress of their conquests in glowing reports of victory, which they sent to Nakirre, before the Paataatus attack, the generalirius was alarmed when the reports stopped. He speculated that his generals had "foolishly" extended their conquests to the Ascendancy planet Colonial Station Chaf, as the world's conquest would disrupt the operation of the long-range triad transmitter there, the only link between Nakirre and his forces. After Jixtus spoke with Clarr Patriarch Clarr'ivl'exow ("Rivlex") and learned that all of the families' Patriarchs were going to be on the Ascendancy's capital planet of Csilla, Nakirre suggested that he could travel to Csilla and enlighten the Chiss leaders so that the Grysks could subjugate the Chiss nation without firing a single blaster. That suggestion prompted Jixtus to denigrate the Kilji way and reveal that he did not care about the Illumine, as its only purpose was to serve the Grysks.

The mocking of the Illumine's religion prompted Nakirre to contemplate the possibility of killing his ally but decided against it, as the Grysk's fleet knew where the Kilhorde was and—even more critically in the generalirius's opinion—where the Kilji homeland was, allowing them to bring an end to the Kiljis.

Shortly afterward, the Whetstone and Jixtus's fleet traveled to the Sunrise system, in hopes of crushing Thrawn and the Chiss once and for all. However, they were met with a deactivated fleet of Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet vessels under Chiss' command. Nakirre briefly spoke with the senior captain, who revealed that the Paataatus had destroyed the Kilhorde, which the generalirius believed to be untrue. However, after Thrawn told him that the data he shared with the Paataatus featured several weaknesses in the Kilji fleet's design and combat doctrine, Nakirre accepted that the Hiveborn had destroyed his fleet, snapping at Jixtus. After the Kilji cried that the Grysk had failed to provide adequate support for the Illumine's conquests, Jixtus shot the Kilji generalirius with his blaster, as the Kilhorde's destruction rendered Nakirre useless to him. Nakirre's vassals went catatonic after their master's death, mourning him.

While Thrawn's fleet reactivated itself and began to destroy Jixtus' fleet, three of the Kiljis Nakirre enlightened, accepted the Whetstones navigator, Pathfinder Qilori, as their leader until he returned them to their home. Under Qilori's directive, they fired all of the Whetstones weaponry at the FateSpinner, inducing Jixtus to use a self-destruct mechanism to destroy his WarMaster and kill himself. After Thrawn's fleet destroyed Jixtus's fleet, Qilori reported to the senior captain, telling him that Jixtus had murdered Nakirre.

Nakirre had wrinkly, rubbery-looking, dark-orange skin, which stretched and formed patterns that reflected the Kilji's emotions, and dark-brown hair. He was much taller than Jixtus and slightly taller than Captain Roscu. After Jixtus revealed that he viewed the generalirius's Illumine as a tool, Nakirre's skin stretched with humiliation, dread, and anger. As the Grysk possessed a massive warship, the FateSpinner, the generalirius feared his ally; however, he mocked him throughout their journey. Nakirre sought to get rid of Jixtus's veil and cloak to see the alien he had allied himself with; however, after realizing that removing the Grysk's coverings could be perceived as fear of the unknown, he decided against it, as the generalirius was not allowed to fear. Nakirre believed that he and Jixtus could have bombarded Avidich instead of leaving the world, as he believed that the Ascendancy's warships were insignificant, viewing the Chiss nation as a nest of ignorance and darkness; however, the Chiss did not view Nakirre's Whetstone and the Kiljis as a real threat because they believed that their warships were not powerful enough to face one of the ruling families.

Initially, Nakirre believed he was a vital part of his ally's plan; however, as he learned that his only purpose was to conquer nations bordering the Ascendancy and ferry Jixtus around the Ascendancy, he was humiliated and frustrated with his place, which Qilori noticed, noting that the generalirius had a level of self-importance. As he believed that the Illumine was mighty and the Kilhorde was mighty and unshakable, he initially did not accept that the Paataatus had destroyed the battle fleet. When Nakirre snapped at Jixtus, the Kilji's skin roiled across his body like an agitated sea.

After the Kilhorde began its conquests, Nakirre was frustrated and sought to finish his part of Jixtus's scheme and bring the Grysk to the FateSpinner and join his people in their "glorious" conquests to lead and inspire them. The Kilji's voice was far less melodious than that of Jixtus, but there was an intensity behind the voice that sent a chill up Roscu's back.

Nakirre wore an outfit made of a dozen shades of blue.

The generalirius was able to enlighten beings to the Kilji way.

Nakirre appeared in the 2021 novel Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil, the final volume in Timothy Zahn's Ascendancy Trilogy. Before Lesser Evils release on November 16, 2021, Tom Hoeler, a senior editor at Del Rey, Lesser Evils publisher, interviewed Zahn. The author stated that in Lesser Evil, Nakirre slowly realized that he was less important to Jixtus than he thought he was.