Attack at Primea

The Primea skirmish, also referred to as the Primea incident, involved a confrontation in orbit above Primea, the homeworld of the Vak, between the Chiss Ascendancy and forces under the control of the Nikardun Destiny. Mitth'raw'nuruodo, a Senior Captain of the Chiss, was investigating the Nikardun conquests and traveled to Primea on a Garwian Unity diplomatic mission. His purpose was to scrutinize General Yiv's efforts to conquer the planet. Yiv planned to assassinate Thrawn as the Garwians departed Primea, thus engineering his death.

Contrary to Yiv's expectations, Thrawn and Mitth'ali'astov, his caregiver, remained on the planet after the Garwian vessel left. The Chiss Ascendancy dispatched Admiral Ar'alani's ship, the Vigilant, to retrieve them. Irizi'stal'mustro, a Syndic from the Irizi family who was suspicious of Thrawn's investigation into Nikardun activities, insisted on joining the mission.

Three days after the Garwian diplomat's departure, the Vigilant arrived and was met by a group of Vak fighters. Thrawn had taken control of one of the starfighters and used modulated laserfire to communicate with the Vigilant, providing a schematic of the Vak fighters to aid Ar'alani in disabling them without harming their pilots. However, before the Chiss could react, four cruisers from the Lioaoin Regime, sent by General Yiv in place of Nikardun forces, emerged from hyperspace and began firing on the Vigilant. Thrawn, piloting his Vak fighter, engaged one of the cruisers, catching the Lioaoin off guard due to their hesitation in firing upon a Vak ship. The Vigilant then retrieved Thrawn's fighter and jumped to hyperspace. The Chiss Ascendancy responded to the Lioaoin attack on the Vigilant with an attack on the Lioaoin heartworld.