Chin

"Just because I don't live in a big flashy city doesn't mean I'm stupid. What hai&mdash;you think we don't know what it means when Imperial stormtroopers start setting up a temporary garrison?"

- Chin to an Imperial Major in Hyllyard City

Chin was a Human smuggler and chief associate of Talon Karrde's organization.

Working with Talon Karrde
"Chin! Come and take them out, will you?''" "''Sure. Come on, fellows. What hai we go for a walk, hee?"

- Karrde entrusts Chin with care of his vornskrs

Chin was a Human male who hailed from the planet Myrkr. He was part of smuggler Talon Karrde's organization, who had established his headquarters on Myrkr. One of Karrde's longest serving associates, Chin had extensive knowledge about his homeworld's native wildlife, and his expertise was put to use by Karrde. Karrde had acquired two native vornskrs, which he named Sturm and Drang, and Chin was responsible for training and domesticating the wild predators to serve as Karrde's bodyguards. Chin also understood the Ysalamiri, mysterious Force-neutralizing creatures that lived on Myrkr, and knew how to remove the Ysalamir from their tree branches without killing them. In addition to these duties, Chin also oversaw base security and operations.

In 8 ABY, Chin was responsible for gimmicking the hyperdrive on one of Karrde's ships, the Uwana Buyer, so that the smuggler chief would have a legitimate reason to land on the planet Varonat on the Ison Corridor. Karrde had heard rumors that a Krish crimelord named Gamgalon was using Morodin-hunting safaris as a cover for other, more illegal, enterprises and wanted to investigate what said business entailed and whether or not he could get in on the action himself. Chin adjusted the power flux connector on the ship four degrees out of alignment, and assured Karrde that an average hyperdrive mechanic would take at least a day to find it. As it turned out, the mechanic&mdash;the former Emperor's Hand, Mara Jade&mdash;on the planet found it quicker. Due to a series of events on Varonat that culminated in Jade saving Karrde's life, he brought her into his organization.

The Thrawn Crisis
"You can't just pull them off their branches, not without killing them. An ysalamir in this stage is sessile&mdash;its claws have elongated to the point where they've essentially grown directly into the core of the branch it inhabits.''" "And you, I suppose, know the proper way to do it?" "''Some of my people do, yes. If you'd like, I could send one of them to rendezvous with your shuttles. The technique involved isn't especially difficult, but it really does have to be demonstrated."

- Talon Karrde offers Chin's services to Gilad Pellaeon as they discuss the proper removal of Ysalamiri from their natural habitat

Five and a half months later, Chin was serving as Karrde's chief of operations at Myrkr Base when the planet was visited by the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Chimaera, the flagship of Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn. The Imperial forces under Thrawn's leadership were interested in procuring Ysalamiri from Myrkr's jungles. Karrde, in an effort to learn more about Thrawn's plans, offered the captain of the Chimaera, Gilad Pellaeon, Chin's assistance in teaching the Imperial personnel how to safely remove the Ysalamir from their branches. The captain thanked Karrde for his generosity, and Chin, along with Dankin, took a Skipray Blastboat out to meet with the Imperial force. Karrde knew that he could trust Chin and Dankin to subtly acquire information from the Imperial shuttle crews, and was content to have some of his personnel watching the Imperials for the duration of their visit.

Shortly after the Imperial visit, the Wild Karrde rescued Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker from deep space after the latter had tangled with the Chimaera, damaging his T-65 X-wing starfighter's hyperdrive in the process. The Empire was actively searching for Skywalker, and had posted a 30,000 credit bounty on his capture. Karrde had declined from participating in the search, wishing to remain neutral in the conflict between the Empire and the New Republic, but finding Skywalker by chance threatened his stance. Chin was present with two other associates in the greatroom of Myrkr Base when Karrde met with Skywalker. As Skywalker approached Karrde, both of the smuggler's vornskrs&mdash;who used the Force to hunt prey&mdash;reacted to the Jedi's presence and began to growl. Despite Karrde's admonishment, the two beasts refused to back down. Karrde called upon Chin to take the vornskrs away, and he took the two beasts for a walk. Unable to decide what to do with Skywalker as most options would inevitably lead the Empire to believe that he had sided with the New Republic, Karrde was forced to keep Skywalker as a "guest" for the time being.

A short while later, Chin was present with Jade, Wadewarn and Zakarisz Ghent at dinner when Karrde brought in two emissaries of the New Republic, Han Solo and Lando Calrissian. The pair had been attempting to persuade Karrde to contract his ships out to the New Republic for use as legitimate cargo haulers. Karrde had refused, citing the need to remain neutral, but did invite them to stay for dinner as a courtesy. During the meal, Karrde was called away and informed that Grand Admiral Thrawn himself was en route to the base to discuss the acquiring or warships and Karrde's refusal to search for Skywalker. Not wanting to be caught with several high-profile New Republic members in attendance, he arranged for Solo and Calrissian to be hidden, and for Chin to make the appropriate arrangements to receive their Imperial guests.

During the Grand Admiral's visit, Skywalker escaped from the base in a BlastBoat, with Jade in pursuit. Both vessels crashed in the jungles. Karrde attempted to bluff Thrawn by claiming it was an internal matter, but the Grand Admiral became interested in the situation and suspected that Skywalker had been Karrde's guest. In response, he deployed a force of stormtroopers and Chariot LAVs to Hyllyard City to wait for the survivors to leave the jungle. Karrde was forced to admit that Skywalker had been at the base to Solo and Calrissian, and the three formulated a plan to rescue the pair from inevitable Imperial capitivity. In Hyllyard City, Chin and three others presented Solo to the Major in charge of the Imperial force. They claimed to have found him snooping around the edge of the jungle, and, aware that the Empire was actively searching for something or someone, had decided to take him to the major in the hopes of a reward. The Major took Solo into custody, unaware of his true identity, and dismissed Chin and the others by promising them a reward if their prisoner turned out to be worth anything. As Chin cleared the area, Calrissian, aided by Karrde's associate Aves, staged an ambush on the Imperial forces that rescued the captives.

Following their blatant assistance of the New Republic in Hyllyard City that could not be hidden from Thrawn, Karrde evacuated Myrkr Base. Chin was aboard the Wild Karrde while the vessel was hiding behind an asteroid observing the Imperial raid on the base. Chin was attempting to keep control of Karrde's vornskrs when they pulled him to the bridge of the vessel and began staring intently at Mara Jade. Karrde admonished the pair of them, pointing out that Jade was a friend, and suggested Chin take them below and walk them around the main hold for exercise. What Karrde was unaware of was that the predators had picked up on Jade's unconscious use of the Force.

Karrde's organization subsequently decamped to the planet Rishi and activate a back up base that Karrde had set up in case of emergency. During the organization's stay on the planet, Mara Jade encountered a bounty hunter, Dengar Roth, who was actively searching for Karrde and his associates. Although Jade effectively dealt with the bounty hunter, Karrde was forced to retreat once more. While Lachton was assigned to dismantle the base, Chin led a team to repack the equipment dumps.

As Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic intensified with his acquisition of Spaarti cloning cylinders to grow fresh troops and the legendary Katana fleet of Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers, Karrde found himself hunted by the Empire and reluctantly began to assist the New Republic. Chin was aboard the Wild Karrde when Karrde took the vessel to the Chazwa system to infiltrate the Imperial garrison on Chazwa to see if he could obtain information on Thrawn's cloning program. While in the system, he met with former smuggler Samuel Tomas Gillespee aboard the Kern's Pride. The Kern's Pride, which had escaped from the Imperial occupation of Ukio, drew the attention of a pair of Lancer-class frigates. Karrde ordered Chin, Lachton and Corvis to man the freighter's turbolasers and steamed in to rescue the Kern's Pride. Chin engaged the Lancers with his turbolaser, and both Imperial vessels were forced to retreat when Karrde and Gillespee called in their respective back-up fleets.

Karrde set up his new headquarters on the planet Hijarna, and Chin was among the personnel at the base. To formalize an alliance between the disparate groups of smugglers, Karrde arranged for a summit at the Fortress of Hijarna. As the groups assembled, Chin took Drang and Sturm for a walk near the Wild Karrde when he saw something moving in the shadows near the ship. Calling it in, Karrde and Aves headed for the vessel immediately. Chin commandeered some of the crew from the Etherway and begun search the south-end rooms on the ship while Dankin and team took the north. The search turned up no intruders, and Chin apologized for obviously being mistaken. Karrde told him not to worry about it, not entirely convinced that Chin had been wrong at all. In actuality, Chin had not been mistaken, and had seen Niles Ferrier's Defel associate stealing aboard the Wild Karrde to plant evidence that Karrde had arranged for an Imperial attack on the previous smuggler meeting on Trogan. Karrde was able to prove his innocence when Ferrier slipped up during the subsequent meeting.

During the final days of Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic, a small team was sent to the planet Wayland to destroy Thrawn's cloning operation and kill a Dark Jedi named Joruus C'baoth. Karrde followed them with Leia Organa Solo in the Wild Karrde. Chin crewed on the vessel, and made sure Karrde's vornskrs were harnessed ready to track the New Republic team.

Later activities
Under Mara Jade's command while Karrde was conducting business in the Gekto system, the crew of the Wild Karrde&mdash;including Chin&mdash;were captured by industrialist Ja Bardrin. Bardrin's daughter, Sansia, had been captured by the Drach'nam Chay Praysh, and Bardrin wanted to enlist Karrde's help in rescuing her. With Karrde absent, he turned to Jade. Although she initially refused, Bardrin persuaded her to undertake the mission by threatening to execute the crew of the Wild Karrde. While Jade went to the planet Torpris, Karrde staged a rescue of his personnel using Noghri commandos loaned to him by Leia Organa Solo.

By 19 ABY, Chin was still part of the crew of the Wild Kaarde. While on route to a meeting with Booster Terrik's ship, the Errant Venture in the Nosken system, the crew decided to test the reactions of their newest crewmate, H'sishi, a Togorian. Part initiation ritual, part test of resolve, the crew waited to see the reaction of the Togorian once the ship dropped out of hyperspace in front of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer.

A volatile situation arose at Bothawui, when it was claimed that Bothan agents had been responsible for deactivating the planetary shields on the planet Caamas on Palpatine's order, which allowed the Empire to bombard the world. As a result, Caamas was rendered near uninhabitable, and the Caamasi scattered through the galaxy. Only a copy of the Caamas Document could potentially resolve the situation without bloodshed, and the only one in existence was in Imperial hands. Karrde, however, knew of a potential source for a copy&mdash;within the library of his old mentor, Jorj Car'das. Karrde toke the Wild Karrde deep into the Kathol sector, heading for the world of Exocron. Chin crewed aboard the vessel, manning the communications console as the ship visited Pembric II, Dayark, and finally Exocron, where they assisted the local Combined Air-Space Fleet in defending the planet from Rei'Kas and his slavers. Chin acted as the communications relay between Admiral Trey David of the Combined Air-Space Fleet who was commanding the battle from the Wild Karrde, and Supreme Admiral Horzao Darr.

Personality and traits
"I must have imagined it. Sorry, Capt'. Truly sorry.''" "''Don't worry about it. We all misread things sometimes. If this was, in fact, a misreading."

- Chin apologizes to Karrde for starting a seemingly wild-nerf chase aboard the Wild Karrde

Chin was a Human with light skin and black hair &mdash;that was cut in a Froffli-style &mdash;and a small goatee beard. Hailing from Myrkr, Chin's speech was peppered with local colloquialisms such as "hee" and "hai", and sometimes his sentence structure missed words entirely but he was still clear in his meaning.

One of Karrde's most trusted and longest-serving associates, Chin was one of the men that Karrde relied on on a daily basis. Technically proficient, Chin performed a myriad of duties aboard the Wild Karrde, including gunner and communications officer. He had an affinity for the animals living on Myrkr, and mad use of his talents in Karrde's employ.

Chin was middle-aged by 9 ABY, and ten years later he had taken an almost grandfatherly approach to the organizations new recruits. Still, he enjoyed indulging in initiation ceremonies of new bridge personnel with the other members of the Wild Karrde crew.

Behind the scenes
Chin first appeared in Timothy Zahn's first book in the Thrawn Trilogy, Heir to the Empire, and appeared in the subsequent sequels Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. Chin was referenced in Zahn's short story First Contact for Star Wars Adventure Journal 1, and appeared in Jade Solitaire for the anthology series Tales from the New Republic. He would later appear in both books&mdash;Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future&mdash;of The Hand of Thrawn Duology. To date, Chin's only appearances in canon have been in works written by Timothy Zahn. Chin appeared or was mentioned in each of the comic adaptations of the Thrawn Trilogy. While his appearance in Heir to the Empire matched his previous description of a middle-age man, his portrayal in The Last Command is of a younger looking man.

Chin also garnered mentions in Heir to the Empire Sourcebook, and the information was reprinted in The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook. Chin was later references in A Guide to the Star Wars Universe (Second Edition), the Star Wars Encyclopedia, a A Guide to the Star Wars Universe (Third Edition), and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Appearances

 * Tales from the Empire
 * Heir to the Empire
 * Heir to the Empire: The 20th Anniversary Edition
 * Heir to the Empire 4
 * Heir to the Empire 6
 * Dark Force Rising
 * Dark Force Rising 1
 * The Last Command
 * The Last Command 2
 * The Last Command 4
 * The Last Command 6
 * Jade Solitaire
 * Specter of the Past
 * Vision of the Future
 * Vision of the Future