So here’s a, possibly, scrapped idea for the Saber novel. I may have a scene like this somewhere, but I doubt on this planet. Anyway, here’s more of Jade! ^_^

Jade leaned against the trunk of a tree. Alderaan was a gorgeous planet, the snow glittering on the mountains and the warmth sticking to the valleys flooded with swift rivers. Her eyes were lost in the horizon, staring at the mountains with longing when Seck spoke her name gruffly.

“Jade.”

She turned around to where he was kneeling, putting a hand on his shoulder. She put her weight against him, looking at where he was gazing.

“What?”

He pointed at something in the valley below him, grumbling about her leaning on him. Jade’s eyes narrowed as she attempted to peer deep into the valley. Finally, she saw it.

“What? You want us to raid a group of Republic troops? You know, this place is Republic owned. If we attack them, the planet will be locked down and we won’t be able to get out.”

“You’re nervous.”

“On an enemy planet? Hm. I wonder why. Look, they sent you guys packing from Korriban a while ago. Sorry, but engaging in a suicide mission isn’t going to help. At all.”

He grunted and shook his head. “No. We’re only going to slow their forces down. See those beasts over there?”

Her eyes shifted to a killik hive nearby, the creatures looking like massive bugs and cawing at one another. She made a face.

“Send them down to the Rep scum?”

“Exactly. Let’s go.”

“Wait a second, I heard something about those killiks. You can get integrated into their hive. So let’s make sure that doesn’t happen, hm?”

“I’ll happily kill you if you threaten the mission.” He stood, shrugging her hand off and started down the hill. Jade sighed.

“Thanks for that.” She followed after him with as much stealth as she could muster. They reached the hive outskirts quickly. Seck looked to her.

“Well?”

“Well wha—oh, awesome.” She shoved up from her crouching position behind a bush and stepped out. “Hey, you big ugly ants!” She turned and took off down the hill towards the Republic forces, shooting lightning at a few killiks discreetly on her way down.

“I’m going to blow up your entire little hive here! Build a nice big mansion—grah!” She skirted around a slice from a massive scythe-like arm of a nearby killik. She growled, shaking her fist.

“Watch it!”

The troops below near the water turned their visors up towards her. They glanced to each other, then looked down their sights. Jade waved her hands frantically.

“Hey you moronic blokes! Don’t just stand there! Shoot these blasted things!” She wasn’t even sure they heard her until their shots hit against the ground beside her. She scowled.

“Not at me, you idiots!”

She probably looked hysterical in her heavily-armored exterior running for her life down a hill. She spared a glance over her shoulder and sighed with annoyance. It was just her luck to attract the entire hive to attack her. But with the troops shooting at her and slamming a few of the bugs in the chest, their direction turned to those men and women below her. Jade smirked darkly, coming to an abrupt stop, flipping back and landing on one killik’s back on her hands, then flipping back out of the stream of flowing killiks. She dusted herself off in the brush, glancing over at Seck who was making his way down to her.

“Why’d they all end up following me?”

“Tagged a scent on you. They hate your smell.”

“Then why aren’t they following me now?”

He pointed to the troops. “Threw some sonic emitters near them while they were watching you. The bugs hate that more. You should probably wash up before they come after you again.”

“Oh, thanks for the concern.” She glanced over her shoulder, watching as the Republic forces got completely decimated. She turned away as one killik rose its claw to slice through a trooper. Their dying screams were heard loudly from where she stood.

“Let’s get going, shall we?”

“Queasy?”

“I’d go down there myself and rip them limb from limb. But I’d rather not wait around for some Republic reinforcements. Thanks for the offer, though.”

Seck grunted, then the two headed back up to their ship. It was tagged in a way to appear like a smuggler ship, allowing them to slip in between both Republic and Empire lines. They stepped inside and strode to a separate wing. Seck cleared his throat, looking at her darkly.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Getting changed. I don’t want to smell like killik bait all day.”

“Then hurry up. I need to speak with you.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to keep you waiting.” Jade scoffed, entering a separate room and closing the door. She pulled off her hooded armor, taking off her gloves, then her arm guards, then twisting out of her chest piece. She exhaled slowly, placing them all on the floor. She was covered in a thick cloth around her chest that covered and supported whatever there was to be covered. She moved to the cabinets, reaching inside and pulling out some water. She knelt down, feeling her skin on her back tighten with the movement. She ignored it and began to clean her smelling armor.

Out in the cold, so open, she felt vulnerable. She loathed not having armor on. She always felt more comfortable with it covering her. When the floor was covered with water, she finally lifted up her armor and set it aside to dry. She wiped her brow and sat down on a nearby chair. She ran a hand through her hair and groaned with frustration. Even though a thick cloth, wrapped around several times over her rather generous chest, covered her and her war boots and armored pants were on, she felt practically naked. She could take a bullet to the gut at this moment and have nothing to help soften the blow. She was practically asking to get killed. Her face twisted with frustration. A knock came at the door and she glanced to it.

“What?”

“You’re taking forever.”

“Is that bothering you?”

“What in the world are you doing in there?”

“Bothering you, clearly. Because everything I do revolves around you.” she replied dryly. The door suddenly opened and she arched a brow, frustrated her exposed stomach and lower neck was, well, exposed.