Jade Sabre

The Jade Sabre was a custom-built and modified shuttle that was constructed by Jedi Master Luke Skywalker as a gift to his wife, Mara Jade Skywalker, shortly after their wedding in 19 ABY. He gave her the starship to replace the Jade's Fire, her previous ship that Jade Skywalker sacrificed during their mission to the planet Nirauan. The Jade Sabre was an fast, fish-head shaped green starship equipped with military-grade hyperdrives shield generators and concealed quad laser cannon weaponry.
Mara Jade Skywalker used the ship on a number of expeditions and battles, including an expedition with the Chiss to investigate the wreckage of Outbound Flight in 22 ABY. She later flew the Jade Sabre during the prelude to and early days of the New Republic's war with the invading Yuuzhan Vong species. This included a diplomatic mission with Luke's twin sister Leia Organa Solo and her daughter Jaina Solo to mediate the rising tensions between the Osarian and Rhommamoolian peoples. This conflict was secretly incited by the Yuuzhan Vong saboteur Nom Anor. Later, the Skywalkers flew the ship to investigate Belkadan, another early site of Yuuzhan Vong sabotage. The outbreak of the war culminated with a battle at Helska IV, the headquarters of the Praetorite Vong. She flew her ship in the battle with aid from her husband, Jaina Solo, and Danni Quee, a scientist who was rescued from Yuuzhan Vong captivity by Jaina Solo's twin brother Jacen.
Two months after the Battle of Helska IV, Mara Jade Skywalker flew the Jade Sabre to Dantooine with her youngest nephew Anakin Solo. The expedition was meant to give Jade Skywalker rest and help her recover from the mysterious illness that had plagued her since before the war. While on Dantooine, she and Solo were discovered by several Yuuzhan Vong. With their path to the Jade Sabre blocked, the pair embarked on a dangerous flight from the Yuuzhan Vong forces. Meanwhile, the aliens discovered the ship and destroyed it because of their religious hatred of mechanical technology, eliminating Solo and Jade Skywalker's only way off the planet. Some time later, Mara Jade Skywalker was gifted a replacement ship by Lando Calrissian and Tendra Risant Calrissian, which was christened the Jade Shadow by Risant Calrissian.
==Description==
Designed and constructed by Jedi Master Luke Skywalker for his wife Mara Jade Skywalker, the Jade Sabre was a green colored shuttle with a sleek fish-head shape swept-back tail fin wings, and flared side pods to protect its twin ion drives. An attractive starship, even the Yuuzhan Vong Yomin Carr, who hated mechanical technology as was typical of his species, acknowledged the Jade Sabre as one of the most beautiful he had ever seen. Only requiring a crew of one pilot, the vessel could also be operated by a team of two pilots or a single pilot with another individual handling the ship's main guns. Mara Jade Skywalker usually operated the ship herself and at other times teamed up with her husband to fly it. Because the Jade Sabre was special to her, Jade Skywalker was reluctant to allow others to fly it,The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide I: Onslaught but often allowed Jaina Solo, her niece and Jedi apprentice, to do so, a fact that made Solo's younger brother Anakin jealous.
A civilian starship, the Jade Sabre was nonetheless equipped with military-grade technology, including its shield generators and a primary hyperdrive of a Class better than 0.3. In addition to the primary hyperdrive, it also had a backup Class 4 hyperdrive. The ship was fast in realspace, able to fly at speeds greater than the 1,050 km/h maxiumum of the Millennium Falcon, a ship that was regarded by some to be among the fastest in the galaxy. It also possessed multiple concealed weapons that only rose up from hidden turrets in combat situations. These included four quad laser cannons and a tractor beam projector.
Despite its military grade equipment, the interior of the Jade Sabre was spacious and comfortable, possessing the amenities to accommodate up to 15 passengers across several rooms. Among these rooms were the bridge, a stateroom with a bed that the Skywalkers shared, an expanded docking bay for Luke's XJ X-wing starfighter,The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels and the space for up to 100 metric tons of cargo and six months worth of consumable goods. As a unique custom-made ship, the Jade Sabre was not commercially available, but its estimated value was around 1,675,500 credits.
==History==
===Construction and early use===
In 19 ABY during her mission with Luke Skywalker to infiltrate the Hand of Thrawn on the planet Nirauan, Mara Jade sacrificed her previous starship, the Jade's Fire, by deliberately crashing it into the fortress's docking bay.Vision of the Future Shortly after the pair were married that same year, Luke Skywalker designed and built a replacement shuttle as a gift for his wife. Jade Skywalker believed he had the Sabre built to thank her for sacrificing the Jade's Fire on Nirauan because he respected her sacrifice and was aware of how much it and the freedom it represented had meant to her.
Jade Skywalker used the ship throughout the years that followed. In 22 ABY, she embarked in the Jade Sabre on a mission to meet with several of her long-time employer Talon Karrde's current and former associates. Her husband accompanied her on the journey, in hopes of spending time together between the meetings, something that had been difficult to come by in their first three years of marriage as busy Jedi Knight and Master of the New Jedi Order. It was during this trip that they received word of a communication from the Empire of the Hand that sent them to Crustai on the edge of the Chiss Ascendancy, where they rendezvoused with the Chiss ship Chaf Envoy, for a journey to investigate the recently discovered remains of Outbound Flight. Although they received the message later than intended, by using the Jade Sabre high quality hyperdrive, they were able to reach Crustai the day before the allotted meeting time was up. After arriving on the Chaf Envoy, Jade Skywalker left the Sabre on the Chiss ship until she returned home after the expedition.
===Yuuzhan Vong War===
====Early invasion====
Around the outbreak of the Yuuzhan Vong War in 25 ABY, Jade Skywalker continued to fly the Jade Sabre. Although she regularly traveled alone, she also flew with Jaina Solo, her niece and Jedi apprentice, on many occasions. She rarely trusted others with her ship, but often allowed her sixteen-year-old niece to fly it because she was an excellent pilot, even at such a young age. That year, Mara flew the Sabre on a diplomatic mission to the Osarian system with Luke's twin sister Leia Organa Solo and her daughter Jaina Solo to mediate the rising tensions between the peoples of Osarian and Rhommamool. Organa Solo was to meet with the "Rhommamoolian" leader of the Red Knights of Life, Nom Anor, who was secretly a Yuuzhan Vong saboteur trying to incite war between the twin planets.
Displeased that the New Republic diplomat was meeting with the Rhommamoolian's first, the Osarians sent the Osarian First-Force under the command of the Rodian Captain Grappa to intercept the incoming ship and redirect its course to the city of Osa-Prime. When they refused to comply with these demands, Grappa sent a group of Z-95 Headhunters to force the Jade Sabre down. Although the enemy starfighters were firing on them, the three women were determined to escape without firing back. After nearly breaking free of their pursuers, thanks to the skill of pilot Jaina Solo and the Jade Sabre superior speed, the impetuous Jedi Wurth Skidder cut into the conflict in his XJ X-wing starfighter. Skidder shot down a pursuing Headhunter, allowing for an easier escape but unintentionally sabotaging Organa Solo's peacemaking attempts because of his decision to prioritize his own glory. The Sabre rendezvoused with the Mon Calamari Mediator-class battle cruiser Mediator and then proceeded to Redhaven on Rhommamool for the planned meeting with Anor. The meeting went poorly, as Anor had no intentions of negotiating or avoiding war, and the Jade Sabre left the system en-route to Coruscant.
Later, after traveling to Dubrillion and learning from Lando Calrissian of the potential trouble on Belkadan, a planet that had fallen out of communications, Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker went in the Jade Sabre to investigate. After an easy flight there, they discovered that Belkadan was overtaken by noxious fumes and showing few signs of life, not even from the Extragalactic Society's ExGal-4 outpost that was based there. Braving the toxic clouds of carbon dioxide and methane, the Sabre entered the Belkadan's atmosphere, where it was met with violent winds and electromagnetic imbalance that interfered with its sensors and instruments. After breaching the clouds, the ship encountered an air pocket that set it on a thousand meter drop straight down. When they reached the surface, the Skywalkers found both signs of Yuuzhan Vong biological sabotage and the perpetrator, Yomin Carr. Jade Skywalker fought and killed Carr, after which they made an equally difficult exit from Belkadan in the Jade Sabre and returned to Dubrillion with their findings.
====Battle of Helska IV====
Upon their arrival back at Dubrillion, the Skywalkers shared their findings of the Yuuzhan Vong activity on Dubrillion and learned of both their attack on Dubrillion and the Praetorite Vong-engineered destruction of Sernpidal that killed their long-time friend Chewbacca. In response to these attacks on several fronts, the Jedi and New Republic forces gathered their began to plan a counterstrike on the Praetorite Vong base on Helska IV. The Jade Sabre traveled to the system alongside the Millennium Falcon, the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Rejuvenator, six Ranger-class gunships, a starfighter unit and several other ships. They engaged the enemy coralskippers, until the Yuuzhan Vong destroyed the Rejuvenator, forcing a retreat of the remaining New Republic forces. As they retreated, the Jade Sabre, Millennium Falcon and Merry Miner flew down to Helska IV's surface in an attempt to extract Jacen Solo, who had entered the Yuuzhan Vong base in an iceborer to rescue the scientist Danni Quee and Jedi Knight Miko Reglia before the outbreak of the space battle. The three ships successfully rescued Solo in the Merry Miner and rejoined the fleet as it regrouped to develop a new plan after the initial failure.
The second assault used a group of shieldships to reflect the energy of the Yuuzhan Vong's yammosk war coordinator back to Helska IV and make the world inhospitable to life. The Jade Sabre served as defense for the shieldships, with Jaina Solo piloting, Jade Skywalker as gunner and Quee offering aid anywhere she could. During the fight, Jade Skywalker lost consciousness because of an attack of the mysterious illness she had long suffered. Temporarily distracted by her aunt's plight, the Jade Sabre was hit several times by opposing Yuuzhan Vong forces, depleting its shields and sending the ship out of control towards the planet below. Both Jade Skywalker's husband and Solo's mother and father took notice of the Sabre descent. Acting quickly, Skywalker maneuvered his X-wing directly under the falling ship and fired his repulsor coils, providing the necessary propulsion for the shuttle to regain control and altitude. In time, the shieldships successfully rendered Helska IV so cold that it killed both the yammosk and all members of the Praetorite Vong on its surface, and the Jade Sabre and other surviving ships retreated to Dubrillion after the victory.
====Destruction====
Two months after the Battle of Helska IV, Mara Jade Skywalker flew the Jade Sabre to Dantooine with her youngest nephew Anakin Solo. With Jade Skywalker's health rapidly deteriorating from the mysterious Yuuzhan Vong-engineered disease, Luke Skywalker entrusted his wife's care to Solo. They hoped a period of rest on the remote Dantooine would help her recover after the difficult ordeals she had been through in the past months. Upon their arrival, Jade Skywalker insisted on piloting the Jade Sabre through its landing personally, trusting only herself with the ship. While Solo feared she had insisted on that because his aunt did not trust him, she revealed to him that the ship was special to her because it was a gift from her husband after her difficult sacrifice of the Jade's Fire.
Eventually, they encountered a group of Yuuzhan Vong, who cut them off from her ship. With their path to the shuttle blocked, the pair were forced to abandon it and embarked on a dangerous flight from the Yuuzhan Vong forces. Meanwhile, the alien warriors discovered the ship and destroyed it because of their religious hatred of mechanical technology, eliminating Solo and Jade Skywalker's only way off the planet. After a last minute rescue by Luke Skywalker and Solo's older brother Jacen, Anakin expressed his regret that he couldn't save the Jade Sabre. Skywalker assured Solo that he did the best anyone could have expected and was grateful and proud of his apprentice's actions.
In 26 ABY, some time after the loss of the Sabre, Jade Skywalker was gifted a new ship by her friend Lando Calrissian and his wife Tendra Risant Calrissian. The SoroSuub Horizon-class star yacht was christened Jade Shadow by Risant Calrissian, on account of its non-reflective gray colored hull.The New Jedi Order: Balance Point
==Behind the scenes==
The Jade Sabre first appeared in the 1999 novel The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime by R. A. Salvatore, the first installment of the Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series. It was first pictured in the 2001 West End Games roleplaying game sourcebook Starships of the Galaxy by Owen K.C. Stephens.
Sources are inconsistent with regard to the Class of the Jade Sabre hyperdrive. Survivor's Quest indicates that the Jade Sabre could attain a hyperspace speed of "somewhat better than 0.3 past lightspeed." Alternately, Starships of the Galaxy states that the ship's primary hyperdrive is Class 1, considerably slower given that a lower hyperdrive multiplier indicates a faster ship.Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded Despite the contradiction, Luke and Mara's ability to rendezvous with the Chiss at Crustai within the designated time limit in Survivor's Quest was dependent on the quality of the Jade Sabre hyperdrive.
==Appearances==
*Survivor's Quest 
*Survivor's Quest abridged audiobook
*The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime 
*The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime abridged audiobook 
*The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide I: Onslaught 
*The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide I: Onslaught abridged audiobook 
==Sources==
*
*A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded
*Starships of the Galaxy 
*The New Jedi Order Sourcebook
*The New Essential Guide to Characters
*
*The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels
*The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
==Notes and references==
Category:Shuttles
Category:Starships of the New Jedi Order