Chio Fain

During the reign of the Galactic Empire, Chio Fain worked as a slicer with his partner, Rone. In 6 BBY, they undertook a job that involved slicing into property of the Empire, and Fain was skeptical of whether it was a good idea. The two slicers were eventually caught, and were pursued by TIE fighters above Ryarten. Rone began to fall behind, and chose to let the fighters catch up, allowing Fain to escape into hyperspace.

Fain attempted to protest, but Rone was killed, and Fain reluctantly made his escape. Due to Rone's death at the hands of the Empire, Fain held a hatred for the regime, particularly wishing to kill the Sith Lord Darth Vader, the enforcer at the forefront of the Empire.

Five years later, in 1 BBY, Fain was hired by Gwi, a messenger for the Hidden Hand crime syndicate. The slicer joined a team of bounty hunters and mercenaries whose goal was to kill Darth Vader. The team was led by the cyborg bounty hunter Beilert Valance, and included the bounty hunter Dengar, the Gamorrean tracker Honnah, the droid and self-proclaimed Jedi hunter Arr-Nine-Nineteen, and a sniper known as Urrr'k. Valance immediately destroyed Arr-Nine-Nineteen due to his dislike of droids, learning he held a tracker for the Hutt Clan. With their team assembled, Valance was ready to begin their hunt.

The team traveled aboard Valance's starship, the Broken Wing. After Valance destroyed several TIE fighters, Dengar was concerned that the Empire would be alerted, but Fain reassured him, having assumed Valance jammed the fighters' communications. However, Valance had only amplified the signals to purposefully lead the Empire to follow them. The team landed on Arvina to meet with the arms dealer Fetya in the town of Fetya's Hollow. While Valance spoke with Fetya, Fain sliced into her databanks, learning the locations of Hidden Hand outposts. Fetya turned on Valance due to the failure of a previous job, but an Imperial Star Destroyer arrived above Arvina, destroying the town. The crew escaped aboard the Broken Wing, narrowly avoiding Vader, who instead tortured Fetya for information on the Hidden Hand.

The crew's next stop was a Hidden Hand outpost on Heva, where they met with Wef, an arms dealer whose stock included bot-drones. As Fain sliced into the drones' command center, the Star Destroyer Formidable arrived above Heva, with Darth Vader on board. Valance attacked the Star Destroyer in the Broken Wing, while Fain remotely piloted the bot-drones alongside the cruiser. Vader flew his TIE Advanced x1 in a skirmish against the bounty hunters, destroying several bot-drones. On Valance's command, Fain merged the drones together and used them to destroy the command tower of the Formidable, causing the Star Destroyer to crash. The Broken Wing was damaged and also crashed, while Vader landed on Heva in pursuit of the bounty hunters.

With Vader on the ground, Valance prepared to advance his plan to use an electromagnetic pulse device to disable Vader's armor. Dengar, impatient, attempted to contact the other hunters, but Fain silenced him, not wishing for their positions to be given away. However, Fain was also impatient to kill Vader, having wished to do so ever since the death of Rone, and jumped down to fight the Sith Lord. Vader attacked him from behind, deflecting Fain's blaster bolts with his lightsaber. Fain was hit, but refused to surrender, dodging Vader's attack and continuing to fire.

Vader overpowered Fain, slicing three of his arms off. Fain was saved by Honnah, who attacked Vader with her Gamorrean battle-ax. The two hunters, working together, managed to damage Vader slightly, but it had no effect on the Sith Lord. Vader used the Force to lift Fain, pushing him into the blade of Honnah's ax. Fain fell to the ground, fatally wounded, and whispered Rone's name before dying.

Following Fain's death, Vader killed Honnah, and Dengar revealed himself to be a spy for the Empire, betraying Valance. Valance was captured and interrogated, but Vader ultimately left him alive, claiming to require his service in the Empire.

An Ardennian male, Chio Fain had orange eyes, gray hair, and skin that was gray and tan in color. The death of his partner, Rone, at the hands of the Empire made Fain eager to take revenge. When introducing Fain to Valance, Gwi described the Ardennian as insane. Fain lived up to his description, claiming to like being led by an insane captain. Even though Valance's plan was risky and had a high possibility of failure, Fain did not mind, as long as he got to die doing what he loved. Despite his insanity, Fain claimed that he was not crazy enough to get close to Vader, though later did just that in an attempt to avenge the death of Rone. Fain was confident in his ability to defeat Darth Vader, even after losing three of his four arms.

Having carried out slicing jobs for a number of years, Fain was an expert slicer, referred to by Gwi as the best in the galaxy. He was knowledgeable in the field of technology, claiming to notice a customized communications jammer made by Grenyt in the cockpit of the Broken Wing. Fain piloted bot-drones in a skirmish against the Empire during the hunt for Vader, and used them to cause the destruction of a Star Destroyer. He could also fight with blasters, able to hold off Vader for some time, but was eventually defeated.

In combat, Fain utilized up to four blasters of various models, which he was able to hold in his four arms. He lost three of his blasters when his arms were cut off by Darth Vader, but continued to fight Vader with a blaster held by his remaining arm. During Valance's hunt for Vader, Fain utilized remotely-piloted bot-drones. Fain wore a black and orange flight suit and had goggles on his forehead.

Chio Fain first appeared in Target Vader 1, a comic written by Robbie Thompson, illustrated by Marc Laming and Cris Bolson, and published by Marvel Comics on July 3, 2019. In Target Vader 1, Fain is portrayed with green eyes, though the rest of the series shows him having orange eyes.

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