Charko

"Guys-it's Charko! The Sarlaccs are stealing our hovertruck!"

- Gord Grallik is distracted by Charko and his men

Charko was a male Chagrian who led a gang of criminals known as the Sarlaccs on the planet Gorse. On several occasions the criminal unsuccessfully attempted to rob the pilot Kanan Jarrus, who broke the Chagrian's horn on the third attempt. In an attempt to taken vengeance for the incident, Charko later tried to goad Jarrus into leaving Drakka's Diner and fighting him, but was too scared to enter the diner itself due to its Besalisk owner Drakka. The Twi'lek Hera Syndulla then hired the Sarlaccs to create a distraction so she could rescue the demolitions expert Skelly, but after completing the job Charko elected to simply rob Syndulla instead of accepting payment. Jarrus interrupted the attempt, and he and Syndulla fought and defeated Charko and his men.

Biography
"We're waiting for you, pilot. Come out and play."

- Charko goads Jarrus

The male Chagrian Charko led the criminal gang known as the Sarlaccs around eleven years before the Battle of Yavin. He and his gang operated on the planet Gorse, where they preyed upon pedestrians who passed through the Industrial sector of Gorse City. On three separate occasions Charko attempted to rob Kanan Jarrus, a Jedi-in-hiding working as a pilot for a local mining called Moonglow Polychemical. All three attempts occurred in an area known as Bogan Boulevard and were unsuccessful. On the third try Charko had one of his horns broken by the pilot, whom he swore he vengeance against for the incident.

When Charko next saw Jarrus, the pilot was eating in a diner on Bogan Boulevard. The Chagrian called out challenges to Jarrus from the establishments door; however, he dared not enter the diner for fear of angering its Besalisk owner Drakka. Jarrus mostly ignored Charko's taunts, and the criminal fled once Drakka made a move to arm himself. After moving away from the diner, Charko and at least eight of his Sarlaccs met with the Twi'lek pilot Hera Syndulla, who hired them for 100 credits to create a distraction so she could break into Moonglow Polychemical's offices and rescue the demolitions expert Skelly, who was being held prisoner there.

After receiving half their payment up front, the Sarlaccs activated the entry buzzer on the Moonglow compound and then began attempting to steal a number of the company's hovervans. The buzzer and thievery drew the attention of Moonglow's head of security, Gord Grallik, who rush from the compound with several of his men to stop the gang. With all of the security distracted, Hera was able to sneak into the Moonglow compound and free Skelly, who then fled. The Sarlaccs also fled the scene soon after being pursued by Grallik and his men. Once they had lost the Moonglow employees, Charko and six of his men met up with Syndulla for payment in an alley by Philo's Fueling Station, a cantina closed for repairs. Instead of accepting fifty more credits though, Charko decided to simply rob Syndulla for everything she had on her.

Before the Chagrian had a chance to attack his former employer, Jarrus interrupted the meeting and challenged Charko, to which the Sarlaccs gladly responded by drawing their weapons. Taking advantage of the distraction, Syndulla span and kicked Charko, causing him to fall and drop his credits. The Twi'lek then shot one of the Sarlaccs and escape up a nearby set of scaffolding as Jarrus attacked the remaining gang members. Back on his feet, Charko attempted to knock down the scaffolding Syndulla was climbing on. As the scaffolding began to collapse, Jarrus threw himself and Charko through a window into the Cantina the scaffolding had been up against. Inside the empty building, Charko and Jarrus exchanged blows, but the pilot proved superior in combat and was able to kick the Chagrian through another window, after which the criminal did not get up again.

Personality and traits
"If you've got a hundred credits, maybe you've got a hundred more."

- Charko decides to rob Syndulla

Despite acting tough and threatening Jarrus, Charko was too afraid of Drakka to enter the Besalisk's diner. He never traveled anywhere without at least half a dozen members of his gang, although Jarrus still managed to break his horn during one altercation and later defeated him in Philo's Fueling Station. Both Jarrus and Drakka considered Charko an idiot, with the Jedi-in-hiding also considering the description of a sarlacc&mdash;a ravenous monster which consisted of little more than a mouth&mdash;to also be an appropriate description of the Chagrian. Charko stood two meters tall.

Behind the scenes
Charko first appeared in A New Dawn, a novel by John Jackson Miller released in 2014.

Appearances

 * A New Dawn