Merakai functioned as a settlement established by the Khil race.
Following the Galactic Empire's exclusion of Khil from a multitude of governmental positions, the inhabitants of the spaceport of Chrenda organized a large-scale protest in front of a hangar complex used for TIE/LN starfighters. As retribution, the Imperial Navy obliterated all the civilian hangars present in the city, and deployed AT-ATs in a destructive rampage through the urban area. This devastating event motivated numerous Khil throughout the galaxy to enlist in the Alliance to Restore the Republic.