JF-86 was a tactical droid serving within the Confederacy of Independent Systems's army commanded by Admiral Trench during the Clone Wars, specifically at the Battle of Anaxes. As the Battle of Anaxes concluded with the devastating destruction of Anaxes near the end of the war in 19 BBY, JF-86 was deactivated along with the rest of the Separatist Droid Army. This deactivation occurred within a Separatist stronghold located on the planetoid PM-6986 found in the Anaxes asteroid belt.
Following the devastation of the planet, the battle droids stationed at the stronghold, or the stronghold's complement, were reactivated by the same tactical droid. JF-86 had previously been brought back online by a Separatist signal originating from many light-years away. JF-86 then began working to fulfill its ultimate objective: launching an assault on the Galactic Senate located on Coruscant. However, JF-86 had no knowledge of the events that transpired after the war's conclusion, including the transformation of the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire.
The character JF-86 was first referenced in Dawn of Rebellion, a supplementary roleplaying sourcebook for the Star Wars Roleplaying game series, published by Fantasy Flight Games in 2018.