Karyn Faro

Karyn Faro was a human female who served as an officer in the Imperial Navy. Faro was stationed on the Chimaera as a Lieutenant Commander, where she served as a First Officer to Commodore Thrawn. She was later promoted to commander, and given captaincy of the Chimaera during her time in the Ninety-Sixth Task Force. Faro eventually reached the rank of commodore.

Following the Battle of Atollon, in which Thrawn only partially succeeded in eliminating key Rebel forces, Faro remained captain of the Chimaera. Although she was promised a promotion to lead Task Force 231, she was still in her position when the Emperor demanded Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Vader investigate a disturbance in the Force. Faro assisted Thrawn by captaining the Star Destroyer during the Battle against Grysk forces. Eventually, Faro was promoted into the Eleventh Fleet.

Learning to work with Thrawn
Karyn Faro served in the Imperial navy in the years leading up to Battle of Yavin. She was stationed as the First Officer on board the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Chimaera when Commodore Thrawn was assigned to command the ship. During her earlier career Faro had served under officers who had gained their rank through nepotism rather than skill, which made her initially suspicious of her new superior. Soon Chiss' tactical and strategic skills however gained Faro's approval, while her own frankness, honesty and tactical abilities in turn earned Thrawn's respect.

When Thrawn was promoted to admiral Faro in turn was promoted to a commander and became the new captain of Chimaera, as part of Ninety-Sixth Task Force. Soon after the promotion the task force was ordered to suppress rebel activity on Sammun, which was part of wider spread resistance movement based around Batonn sector. Thrawn trusted Faro to lead the task force while the admiral took a captured smuggler ship and one of the light cruisers, Shyrack, to observe Admiral Durril's attack against Scrim Island on Batonn. Faro completed her mission successfully destroying two enemy ships and capturing four others along with a cache of small-arms ordnance. After the mission to Sammun the Ninety-Sixth Task Force was ordered to Batonn, where they recaptured the Scrim Island and later participated in sieging the Creekpath Mining and Refining complex.

Investigating a Force disturbance
"Do you wish any cultural downloads sent to you? I have a high-speed transmitter ready."

- Faro learned to anticipate Thrawn's requests

Later, around the time of Battle of Atollon, Faro was promoted to a commodore. Along with the promotion she was promised a task force of her own, but six weeks after the promotion Faro was still serving on the Chimaera and was rather uncertain where her future would lay, especially since Thrawn's former aide, Eli Vanto, had unexpectedly disappeared from the Seventh Fleet. When Emperor Palpatine ordered Thrawn and Chimaera to assist Darth Vader in dealing with a Force disturbance centered on a planet called Batuu, Faro accompanied them leaving Commander Woldar to lead the Seventh Fleet in their absence. Faro was not happy to have passengers on her ship, because she thought passengers didn't belong on the war-ship in the first place, and especially since Vader and his special Stormtrooper unit demanded changes in the ship's daily routines. However, Faro did her best to accommodate their guests, as Thrawn called them, even if it meant confronting influential and troublesome chief hangar master of the Chimaera, Xoxtin.

En-route to Batuu Chimaera encountered a mysterious obstruction on the hyperlane. After several failed attempts at returning to hyperspace Faro suggested that they might instead travel to Mokivj, where they could turn on a different hyperlane that would take them to Batuu and save fourteen or fifteen hours of travel time. Thrawn accepted Commodore's suggestion and ordered the Chimaera to set course for Mokivj despite Darth Vader's warning that the alternative route would not save more than eleven hours. Faro's daring in making the suggestion in the first place, as well as the curiosity she showed toward Thrawn's past visit to that area of space, irritated Vader but Thrawn was interested in hearing his crew's suggestions and was not insulted by Faro's inquiries. When the Chimaera reached Mokivj it turned out Vader's time estimate was more accurate than Faro's. While the ship moved across the system to the proper jump point Thrawn asked Chimaera ' s bridge crew to see how many moons orbited the planet. When they discovered that four of the ten moons were missing Faro participated in speculating what had happened to them.

When Chimaera finally reaches Batuu Darth Vader and Thrawn headed to the planet's surface to investigate the situation while Faro was left to command the Chimaera and observe the space around the planet. Thrawn ordered her to use only passive sensors and rig the ship for stealth but permitted her to act on her own accord if something unexpected happened while he was away from the ship. When a group of enemy ships appeared out of hyperspace and headed for the same area where Thrawn and Vader had landed, Faro reported their arrival to the Grand Admiral. Against Thrawn's advice Vader ordered the First Legion transport Darkhawk to intercept and capture one of the approaching ships while Chimaera stayed out of sight, but Faro ordered four TIE/D Defenders led by Vult Skerris to assist the First Legion in their mission. That first encounter with the Grysks was only half-successful; while the Imperials seizes the target vessel and captured several warriors, the Grysk had enough time to destroy their cargo, and escape with several prisoners taken from Batuu. Faro blamed herself for the escape of Grysk ships, since she had ordered the Defenders to concentrate on helping First Legion in their boarding operation instead of chasing after the other enemy vessels.

As soon as Darkhawk and Thrawn's freighter had returned to Chimaera they turned course back to the blocked hyperlane and started searching the source of obstruction by making micro jumps back and forth from the target area until Thrawn was able to pinpoint the source of the disruption. Using only ion cannons the Chimaera was able to capture the device Grysks had used to block the hyperlane intact. While Faro was again left in charge of Chimaera Thrawn, Vader and the First Legion took a freighter to the other end of the hyperlane, where they purposefully triggered the Grysk trap and turned it against the aliens, capturing one of their ambushing ships and a number of its crew. After the Grysk ship was secure Faro was ordered to bring the Chimaera to their location.

Commodore Faro was later present in a meeting during which Thrawn and Vader decided to allow some of the Grysks escape with a ship that carried a homing beacon, but the plan was ruined by a small group of First Legion members who had decided to bunk on the ship the Grysks tried to steal, the Darkhawk. After a brief skirmish that claimed the lives of four Imperials and most of the captured Grysks, Faro, Thrawn, Vader, and Commander Kimmund of the First Legion held a meeting in the Darkhawk ' s cockpit. Durin the meeting Thrawn pressed Faro with questions, leading her to reach the same conclusions that the Grand Admiral had already come to. Thrawn believed the Grysks were using the old separatist factory on Mokivj as a base, where the aliens had intended to study the Darkhawk and where they had taken some of the prisoners they had escaped with from Batuu. When Chimaera reached Mokivj and discovered Grysks in the process of stealing yet another moon from the planet's orbit, Thrawn prepared to leave Faro in command of the assault against the Grysks ships while the Grand Admiral himself planned to lead a ground operation to rescue the prisoners that had been taken into the factory. Vader disagreed with the plan, insisting that Thrawn stayed aboard the Chimaera to direct the space battle while Vader and the First Legion would deal with the factory.

Battles against Grysks
"You wondered earlier how we would defeat two ships nearly as large as ours. You now have an answer?" "Yes, sir. We persuade them to let us take them on one at a time."

- Grand Admiral Thrawn and Commodore Faro

At the beginning of the battle Commodore Faro was convinced Thrawn would first sent out infiltrators to spy on the Grysks, and was rather surprised when Thrawn began a full assault against the Grysks as soon as the moon the aliens were stealing had reached escape velocity and there was no longer danger of it impacting the planet. During the battle the Grysks tried to send tugs rigged with bombs to attack the Chimaera but the Star Destroyer's turbolasers destroyed them before they could cause any harm. Seeing their tug trick failing one of the Grysk ships broke away from the battle and despite TIE Defenders pursuing it the vessel managed to escape to hyperspace taking captured Chiss children with it. When Thrawn ordered Chimaera and the TIEs to destroy all Grysk ships Faro asked if they shouldn't take at least some prisoners that might lead them to where the Grysks had taken their prizes. Thrawn acknowledged her concern but did not change his orders and all the remaining Grysk ships were destroyed. When Vader returned from the planet's surface with Chiss children the Dark Lord and the First Legion had rescued, Faro found a tech who knew Sy Bisti and could communicate with the children.

When Thrawn suggested Vader should use the Force to pilot the Chimaera through hyperspace in order to find and reach the Grysks' destination before the aliens did, Faro watched from the side in silence&mdash;despite her distrust in the use of the Force in general she offered no objections to Thrawn's plan. After they had reached their destination Faro was concerned to see that the Grysk ships waiting there outnumbered the Imperials two to one, and the ship that had escaped Mokivj with the Chiss prisoners was also expected to arrive shortly after Chimaera. Thrawn and Vader planned to use one TIE Defender and the Darkhawk to ambush the ship carrying prisoners when it would arrive, and only then they would deal with the two waiting ships. When the First Legion had rescued the children from the Grysks, Thrawn sent the TIE fighters to deal with one Grysk vessel while Chimaera continued on toward the other one. Having already seen where the first Grysk ship had its gunports, Faro ordered Chimaera ' s gunners to target the same spots on their opponent, with full confidence that with Thrawn and Vader's leadership they could deal with anything the Grysks attempted.

Personality and traits
"Commodore Faro is more than capable of handling the assault."

- Grand Admiral Thrawn

Karyn Faro was a female human with light skin, brown eyes and dark brown hair which she had cut short. She was confident and straightforward, her frankness sometimes bordering on insubordination toward superiors. Her cynicism and errant behavior resulted from her disdain towards officers in the high command, who had risen to their position through their connections, rather than by their own merits and skills. Faro recognized the effect of nepotism in the navy, but did not allow well connected subordinates like Chief Hangar Master Xoxtin to get away with ignoring orders, even thought it might damage her own career.

Having lived through the Clone Wars, Faro possessed great tactical aptitude and recognized similar traits in other officers. She, like many other navy officers, initially appeared skeptical of Thrawn, but soon recognized his tactical genius and brilliant leadership. Thrawn gained her respect, and she went on to serve him with loyalty and pride. She also recognized the same talents in Thrawn's aide, Eli Vanto, and lauded him for being among the few officers who could truly understand Thrawn. Faro, in turn, earned Thrawn's respect and trust, and the grand admiral willingly listened to her suggestions and opinions. He also relied on Faro to be able to act on her own discretion when Thrawn was absent from the Chimaera.

During her service to Imperial Navy, Faro had learned to read stormtroopers' white-on-white rank and identification markings, a feat that was difficult to master without using stormtrooper helmet's visual enhancements. Under Thrawn's command, she had also almost started to enjoy the times when the grand admiral questioned her about their tactical situation, since Faro felt that it improved her own skills and made her a better officer, even though she sometimes felt that she was not quite able to reach the level Thrawn expected from her. She was also very curious about Thrawn's past and slightly envious of the time Vanto had spent with him.

Faro learned much about military tactics and strategy during her time serving under Thrawn. Thrawn thought very highly of her, to the point that he recommended her for command of the eleventh fleet, a request which High Command approved.

Appearances

 * Thrawn
 * Thrawn, Part IV
 * Thrawn, Part VI
 * Thrawn: Alliances
 * Thrawn: Treason