Chin was a male Human from Myrkr and a smuggler who worked closely with Talon Karrde in his organization. As one of Karrde's most reliable and tenured colleagues, Chin acted as the chief of operations at Karrde's base on Myrkr. Chin had extensive knowledge of Myrkr's wildlife, and he trained and domesticated Karrde's vornskrs. He also possessed the skill to carefully remove ysalamiri from trees. Chin had many responsibilities in Karrde's organization, including looking after the vornskrs Sturm and Drang, and serving as part of the crew on Karrde's main starship, the Wild Karrde. Chin was a key member of Karrde's team during the Thrawn campaign and remained with the organization during the Caamas Document Crisis ten years later. Known for his skills as an engineer and gunner, Chin often operated the communications console during missions. By 9 ABY, he was a seasoned smuggler in his middle age, and in later years took on a paternal role with newer members of the organization.
Myrkr was the planet of origin for Chin, a male Human. He was affiliated with Talon Karrde's smuggling organization, which had its headquarters on Myrkr. Chin was one of Karrde's most experienced associates, and his extensive knowledge of his homeworld's wildlife was valuable to Karrde. Karrde owned two native vornskrs, named Sturm and Drang, and Chin was tasked with training and taming these predators to serve as Karrde's bodyguards. Chin also possessed an understanding of the ysalamiri, creatures that neutralized the Force and lived on Myrkr, and knew how to safely remove them from their tree branches. Additionally, Chin oversaw security and operations at the base.
In 8 ABY, Chin intentionally sabotaged the hyperdrive of the Uwana Buyer, one of Karrde's ships, to give Karrde a valid reason to land on Varonat in the Ison Corridor. Karrde had heard that Gamgalon, a Krish crime lord, was using Morodin-hunting safaris as a front for illegal activities, and he wanted to investigate. Chin misaligned the power flux connector by four degrees, assuring Karrde that it would take a hyperdrive mechanic at least a day to detect. However, Mara Jade, a former Emperor's Hand working as a mechanic on Varonat, found the issue quickly. After Jade saved Karrde's life, he recruited her into his organization.
About five and a half months later, Chin was Karrde's chief of operations at Myrkr Base when the Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn's flagship, the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Chimaera, arrived at Myrkr. Thrawn's forces sought ysalamiri from Myrkr's jungles. Karrde, hoping to learn more about Thrawn's plans, offered Gilad Pellaeon, the Chimaera's captain, Chin's assistance in safely removing the ysalamiri. Pellaeon accepted, and Chin, along with Dankin, went to meet the Imperial force in a Skipray Blastboat. Karrde trusted Chin and Dankin to gather information from the Imperial shuttle crews, and he wanted his personnel to monitor the Imperials during their visit. After the Imperials departed, Chin and Dankin reported their findings to Karrde.
Soon after the Imperial visit, the Wild Karrde rescued Luke Skywalker, a Jedi Knight, from space after the Chimaera ambushed him, damaging the hyperdrive of his T-65 X-wing starfighter. The Empire was actively searching for Skywalker and offered a 30,000 credit bounty for his capture. Karrde had avoided the search to remain neutral in the Galactic Civil War between the Empire and the New Republic, but finding Skywalker threatened his neutrality. Chin was present with two other associates in Myrkr Base's greatroom when Karrde met with Skywalker. As Skywalker approached, Karrde's vornskrs, who used the Force to hunt, reacted to the Jedi's presence and growled. Despite Karrde's attempts to calm them, they refused to back down. Karrde asked Chin to take the vornskrs away, and Chin walked them. Karrde, unsure of what to do with Skywalker, kept him as a "guest" for the time being, as most options would make the Empire think he had sided with the New Republic.
Later, Chin was having dinner with Jade and two other associates, Wadewarn and Zakarisz Ghent, when Karrde brought in Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, emissaries from the New Republic. They had been trying to persuade Karrde to lease his ships to the New Republic as cargo haulers. Karrde declined, citing his need to remain neutral, but invited them to dinner. During the meal, Karrde was called away and informed that Grand Admiral Thrawn was coming to the base to discuss acquiring warships and Karrde's refusal to search for Skywalker. To avoid being caught with New Republic members present, he had Solo and Calrissian hidden and instructed Chin to prepare for the Imperial guests.
During Thrawn's visit, Skywalker escaped from the base in a Blastboat, with Jade pursuing him, and both crashed in the jungle. Karrde tried to bluff Thrawn by claiming it was an internal matter, but Thrawn suspected Skywalker had been Karrde's guest. Before the Chimaera left orbit, Thrawn sent stormtroopers and Chariot LAVs to Hyllyard City to wait for the survivors. Karrde admitted to Solo and Calrissian that Skywalker had been at the base, and they devised a plan to rescue Skywalker and Jade from Imperial captivity. In Hyllyard City, Chin and three others presented Solo to the Major leading the Imperial force. They claimed to have found him near the jungle and, knowing the Empire was searching for someone, hoped for a reward. The Major took Solo into custody, unaware of his true identity, and dismissed Chin and the others, promising a reward if their prisoner proved valuable. As Chin left, Calrissian, with help from Karrde's associate Aves, ambushed the Imperial forces and rescued the captives.
After their assistance to the New Republic in Hyllyard City was exposed to Thrawn, Karrde evacuated Myrkr Base. Chin was on the Wild Karrde as it hid behind an asteroid in the Myrkr system, observing the Imperial raid on the base. Chin was trying to control Karrde's vornskrs when they led him to the bridge and stared at Mara Jade. Karrde told them that Jade was a friend and suggested Chin take them to the main hold for exercise. Karrde did not know that the vornskrs had sensed Jade's use of the Force.
Karrde's organization relocated to Rishi and activated a backup base. While there, Mara Jade encountered Dengar Roth, a bounty hunter searching for Karrde and his associates. Although Jade dealt with Dengar, Karrde was forced to retreat again. While Lachton dismantled the base, Chin led a team to repack the equipment.
As Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic intensified with his acquisition of Spaarti cloning cylinders and the Katana fleet, Karrde reluctantly began to assist the New Republic. Chin was on the Wild Karrde when Karrde went to the Chazwa system to infiltrate the Imperial garrison on Chazwa to find information about Thrawn's cloning program. In the system, he met Samuel Tomas Gillespee aboard the Kern's Pride. The Kern's Pride, which had escaped the Imperial occupation of Ukio, attracted the attention of two Lancer-class frigates. Karrde ordered Chin, Lachton, and Corvis to man the freighter's turbolasers and rescue the Kern's Pride. Chin engaged the _Lancer_s with his turbolaser, and both Imperial vessels retreated when Karrde and Gillespee called in their backup fleets.
Karrde established his new headquarters on Hijarna, and Chin was among the personnel there. To create an alliance of smugglers against the Empire, Karrde arranged a summit at the Fortress of Hijarna. As the groups gathered, Chin walked Drang and Sturm near the Wild Karrde and saw movement in the shadows. He alerted Karrde and Aves, who went to the ship. Chin commandeered crew from the Etherway and searched the south-end rooms while Dankin's team searched the north-end rooms. They found no intruders, and Chin apologized for the mistake. Karrde was not convinced Chin was wrong. In fact, Chin had seen Niles Ferrier's Defel associate boarding the Wild Karrde. Ferrier, working with Thrawn, tried to plant evidence that Karrde had arranged the Imperial attack on their meeting at Whistler's Whirlpool Tapcafe on Trogan. Karrde proved his innocence when Ferrier mentioned details of the raid that only the planted evidence contained during the smuggler chiefs' meeting.
During the final days of Thrawn's campaign, a team was sent to Wayland to destroy Thrawn's cloning operation, which included Skywalker, Solo, Calrissian, Chewbacca, and Mara Jade. Karrde learned of the mission from Leia Organa Solo, a New Republic Councilor, on Coruscant. Organa Solo had discovered that Thrawn's cloning process used ysalamiri to create null-Force bubbles around the cloning cylinders, and she realized that Skywalker would be cut off from the Force. Organa Solo hired the Wild Karrde to take her to Wayland to warn her brother. Chin crewed on the ship and ensured Karrde's vornskrs were ready to track the New Republic team after landing. The team destroyed the Mount Tantiss cloning operation, and Thrawn was killed during the Battle of Bilbringi, ending his campaign.
After the Thrawn Crisis, Chin remained with Karrde's organization and the Smugglers' Alliance. While Karrde was in the Gekto system, the crew of the Wild Karrde, including Chin, were captured by Ja Bardrin. Bardrin's daughter, Sansia, had been captured by the Drach'nam Chay Praysh, and Bardrin sought Karrde's help in rescuing her. With Karrde absent, he turned to Jade. Although she initially refused, Bardrin threatened to execute the crew of the Wild Karrde to persuade her. While Jade rescued Sansia from Torpris, Karrde, with assistance from Noghri commandos provided by Leia Organa Solo, rescued Chin and the crew of the Wild Karrde.
By 19 ABY, Chin was still part of the Wild Karrde's crew and often manned the communications console. On the way to a meeting with Booster Terrik's ship, the Errant Venture, in the Nosken system, the crew tested their newest member, the Togorian H'sishi. As an initiation, they waited to see H'sishi's reaction when the ship exited hyperspace in front of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer. Karrde questioned startling a Togorian in a confined space, but Chin and the others believed they needed to assess H'sishi's reactions under stress. The initiation went as planned; H'sishi was briefly stunned but quickly resumed her duties.
A tense situation arose at Bothawui when it was alleged that Bothan agents had deactivated the planetary shields on Caamas on Palpatine's order, allowing the Empire to bombard the world in 19 BBY. Caamas became uninhabitable, and the Caamasi scattered across the galaxy. Only a copy of the Caamas Document could resolve the situation peacefully, but the only copy was in Imperial hands. Karrde knew of a potential source in the library of his old mentor, Jorj Car'das. Karrde took the Wild Karrde to the Kathol sector, heading for Exocron. Chin crewed the vessel, manning the communications console as they visited Pembric II, Dayark, and Exocron, where they assisted the local Combined Air-Space Fleet in defending the planet from Rei'Kas and his slavers. Chin relayed communications between Admiral Trey David, commanding the battle from the Wild Karrde, and Supreme Admiral Horzao Darr, who remained on the ground. The battle was won when Car'das arranged for the Aing-Tii to join the fight. Car'das did not have the document but provided information that resolved the crisis and led to a peace treaty between the New Republic and the Empire.
Chin was a light-skinned Human with black hair styled in a Froffli cut and a small goatee. As a native of Myrkr, Chin used local phrases like "hee" and "hai" and sometimes omitted words, but his meaning was always clear. He was one of Talon Karrde's most trusted and long-serving associates, a man Karrde relied on daily. Chin was technically skilled and performed various duties on the Wild Karrde, including serving as a gunner and communications officer. As a skilled hyperdrive engineer, he could easily sabotage a hyperdrive engine to appear like a natural malfunction. Chin loved Myrkr's animals and used his talents for Karrde. He could also teach others his skills, such as removing ysalamiri from trees.
By 9 ABY, Chin was middle-aged, and ten years later, he was almost grandfatherly toward new recruits. He still enjoyed participating in initiation ceremonies for new bridge personnel with the other crew members of the Wild Karrde. Karrde trusted Chin completely, entrusting him with the care of his pets. Coming from a relatively backwater planet, Chin resented others questioning his intelligence simply because he did not live in a large urban center.
Chin's initial introduction to the Star Wars universe was in Heir to the Empire, the first installment of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. He subsequently featured in the sequels, namely Dark Force Rising and The Last Command. Further appearances include a reference in Zahn's short story First Contact, which was part of Star Wars Adventure Journal 1, and in Jade Solitaire, found within the Tales from the New Republic anthology series. He resurfaced in both Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future, which together comprise Star Wars: The Hand of Thrawn Duology. As of now, all of Chin's appearances within the canon continuity are limited to works authored by Timothy Zahn. Additionally, Chin was either present or mentioned in each of the comic adaptations of the Thrawn Trilogy. Notably, while his depiction in Heir to the Empire aligned with his established description as a middle-aged individual, his portrayal in The Last Command presented him as a younger man. Originally, Jade Solitaire was slated for publication in Star Wars Adventure Journal 17; however, West End Games made the decision to cancel the issue before its release. An image intended to accompany the story depicted Mara Jade alongside a male companion on the bridge of the Wild Karrde. Given that Chin was the sole individual mentioned as being on the bridge with Jade during that specific scene, it is highly probable that the male figure was intended to represent him. Nevertheless, because Star Wars Adventure Journal 17 never saw official publication, the canonical status of the image remains uncertain.
Furthermore, Chin received mentions in Heir to the Empire Sourcebook, with the information being replicated in The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook. He was later cited in both the second and third editions of A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, as well as in the Star Wars Encyclopedia and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.