Try as she might, Samantha could never outrun not only her Mother’s shadow, but also the shadow her entire family had cast over the galaxy many, many times. It was a new age and a new set of Alphas. Determined to carve her own path Samantha embarked on the trials on Mirial that all Mirialans must face to earn their ‘stripes’, so to speak. Having put it off long enough, Samantha requested and was granted leave from the Jedi Academy to go to Mirial and participate in the latest set of trials being held on the dusky and dry planet. She kept her head low to avoid attention, tucking her bright red hair under her hood and pulling it a little farther over her head; wrapping her body up in the robe against the chill of the freighter's bad climate control system.
It was third class, she refused to travel in anything other than the class that most refuges would travel. Though she had access to credits, lots of them if she needed; Samantha never touched a single credit determined to make it on her own. It had been that way since the day she walked out and turned her back on her Mother. Though she kept tabs on how her Mother was doing through her step-father, Sam had not directly talked to her Mother for some time. Mrysti being totally against Samantha joining the Jedi and turning her back on the reconstituted Sith Empire.
It was where her heart called her and even though her Aunt Karolin understood and even told her as much, Mrysti was dismayed. Even Karolin could not convince her sister that Sam had to make her own way. And in explaining it to Mrysti, Karolin made her sister aware that Samantha had so much of Mrysti inside of her; including that drive and stubborn determination that made her who she was. What Sam had that her Mother didn’t was an empathy and compassion that knew no bounds. Spared the hard life her Mother had endured, Sam had indeed grown to be exactly what Porchia questioned and surmised Mrysti would have been had she been spared the kind of life she had to endure. Sam was indeed her Mother’s daughter with every fiber of her being.
Though it was mostly a set up, Karolin saw to it that Samantha had the very best of Jedi Masters to instruct her. That was never supposed to be something that was predetermined and Sam had originally made Karolin swear to not interfere. It was like talking to a wall, Sam said it with a skeptical tint to her voice. She knew even as she spoke the words Karolin was going to arrange Sam to have a Master that the family approved of, that Karolin approved of. And it was with much reluctance that Sam not only started training with one of Karolin’s old mentors, but a man of such broad vision half the time Sam was not sure what side of the Force he was on. Karolin’s objective was to make Sam well rounded to give her a broader view of the Force. But there was another objective that Sam didn’t quite get yet and would not get for some time. By accepting both sides of the Force and becoming more worldly in the use of the Living Force, Sam would hopefully one day see eye to eye with her Mother, Mrysti. It was Karolin’s hope that through the Force, they would someday reconcile with one another.
As Sam thought about her Mother and the disagreements they had, she realized she could never be the brute or ‘Hammer’ her Mother was. Samantha was simply too subtle. A trait which was quickly identified as she entered the Jedi Academy and which placed her on a tract to become what was known as a Jedi Shadow. They held the power of Sages and the skill of the Sentinels. It made sense to Karolin when she learned of it. Mrysti was once a Consular before becoming the raging psychopath she emerged under the cruel tutelage of the Sith. Mrysti scoffed at the revelation, her daughter was to become a Shadow. ‘Lurkers, Assassins…’ That’s what Mrysti had called them, but the Shadows were so much more, more than even her Mother could even surmise.
As the freighter announced arrival in the Mirial system, Samantha shifted in her seat for what seemed like the first time since she left Coruscant. Looking around and stretching slightly, the hood fell away from her head as a lock of bright red hair fell out from under it. Samantha grimaced as she tucked the hair back into her hood snatching it over her head as she murmured to herself, “Maybe I should have dyed it…Karolin looked good as a blonde…”
Mirial was a dry planet and incredibly dusty. The climate was harsh and more than Samantha expected as she walked down the ramp to the starport. She had never actually been to Mirial. Like the other Mirialan women in her family all of them were from somewhere else. Sam having grown up in a time of yet another galactic conflict. Life was stable for the most part, but she always wondered what their home planet was like. Edessa was home, the desert was home so Samantha was used to the heat, but this planet was a different kind of dry. There were trees and plants and as she exited the spaceport to look out over the landscape of the home she never knew, she wondered how any of it could grow in this climate. It was desert like, but with greenness no one could expect from such a place. Magical in a way, something hit Sam as strange, her heart fluttered slightly looking out upon it. This was their home and suddenly seeing all of the green skin and the green faces, Sam felt more at home than she had in the past few years.
Growing up in Edessa, Sam was given privilege beyond measure by her step-father. An Arkanian, Sam’s step-father doted on the girl; much to Mrysti’s chagrin who was determined that only through pain and sacrifice could Sam even hope to survive the galaxy. It caused much strife between Mrysti and Sam’s step-father who constantly argued as to what was right and what was wrong in the raising of such a beautiful child. Mrysti always won, she was the Mother after all and a Force User to boot. As she would explain to her husband time and time again, ‘It’s a Force thing…you just simply can’t understand it…’. Sam never bought into it, she played along until she was ready to confront her Mother on her own. As Sam looked out over the planet and remembered the day she left, she frowned slightly.
“Again…Samantha!!! How do you ever hope to achieve greatness through mediocrity?!?! You will never survive in this galaxy if you don’t learn to ‘pull the trigger’…AGAIN!!!”
It was a day of days, Samantha had already bested four of her step-father’s finest slaves, but she was loathed to faced the last. An already injured man, Sam could sense it was a test by her Mother, to see if she could indeed be merciless against a weaker enemy. The man haphazardly attacked Sam swinging a blade at her clumsily, which Sam quickly avoided looking up at her Mother angrily.
“Why Mother??? This man can barely stand….he is no threat to me…”
With a look of shock and surprise, Mrysti jumped down off the balcony to the arena floor below. Not quite as light as she used to be, Mrysti landed hard on the ground, but on her feet. She snatched the lightsaber from Samantha’s hand and glared at her raising her other hand to the slave for him to hold.
“Why? WHY?!?! You dare question me? Insolent child!!! I train you…I care for you, give you everything I never had and you question ME?!?!”, Mrysti shoved Samantha on the shoulder, though Sam was solid enough by that point that she barely moved, handing the lightsaber back to her, “Strike him down!! Kill him…he has orders to kill you. A man faces you…he is your enemy and we give no quarter to our enemies…”
This had been coming for some time. Samantha failing to finish a challenge of death that her Mother had set up for her. Samantha simply not having the heart to kill a weaker foe. She stared at her Mother defiantly, finally turning off the lightsaber and dropping it on the ground as she folded her arms over her chest.
“No. I won’t…I won’t kill a weaker person…not now, not ever…”, Mrysti simmered with rage as she bent down picking up the saber and clutching it tightly. It groaned under the pressure Mrysti placed on it threatening to crack it open, but Sam was not finished, “I’m not you Mother…and I never will be.” She gave her Mother a kind, sad look, “And…I am sorry for you. I pity you…I am sorry you had to endure the life you have. It has made you who you are and I love you. But, I can’t be you…”
Turning abruptly Mrysti activated the saber in time with the motion of her hands. The purple blade sliced the slave in half as it activated at the last second before striking him. Sam stepped back in shock raising her hands slightly. She of course had seen this side of her Mother before, had even witnessed her Mother kill in defense of others or during a battle. She never got used to seeing her Mother do what she was so very adept at with almost no feeling at all. Life…all life was precious to Samantha. A fact that had somehow gotten lost to Mrysti decades before and any hope of ever convincing her Mother otherwise was lost along the same time. As Mrysti turned, the fires of rage still burning behind her eyes Sam lowered her hands and sagged slightly.
“I am leaving Mother…I am going away. I can’t be part of this anymore and I won’t let you turn me into what you’ve become. I can’t change you…and I don’t want to. I love you just like you are, the galaxy needs people like you…but, this is not me…it just isn’t…”
Sam lowered her head slightly saying a silent prayer in the Force for the soul her Mother had just taken before she turned to walk off. Mrysti called out to her angrily before she got to the door.
“You leave…you stay gone. You understand me?!?! YOU STAY GONE!!!”,Samantha turned as a tear streaked down her face nodding to her Mother as she always did. She didn’t say anything as she looked on the older woman who’s veneer of rage threatened to break as Mrysti’s chin started to vibrate slowly, “You will see…one day, you will see. You cannot go through the universe without becoming cold to the reality of it. One day…you are going to know…” With that Mrysti turned and walked the opposite direction.
Sam sucked in a deep breath and let it out. That was it. And as Sam walked out walking to the lift that would take her to Edessa’s launch, she felt resolved. There was a sadness at having to confront her Mother, but resolute determination. One day, Sam was going to prove her Mother wrong and on that day, she would make her Mother proud.
What Sam didn’t see, what she couldn’t possibly know was the collapse Mrysti had once she made it to the recess of the exit tunnels darkness. Falling against the wall, Mrysti slid down against it and landed hard on her back. She brought her hands to her face and cried hysterically. A parent must always face the day that the child will leave the nest. But, Mrysti pushed too hard, she trained her too hard. There are no manuals on how to raise a child, it is done based off the experience of the one who does the raising. And Mrysti’s experience although terrifying also held a simple truth. One she wished to impart to her daughter. The universe is a cruel place to a kind soul. Mrysti only wanted to prepare her for that. In a way, she did.
Stepping up to the registrar, Sam smiled brightly as she lowered the hood handing the clerk her identification. The clerk was bored out of his mind and it showed, until he started typing the serial number from Sam’s identification into the Holo-net database. Suddenly the clerk looked up and lost a bit of color in his green face. He swallowed hard handing the ID back to Sam.
“S-Samantha Alpha…d-daughter of Darth Retuvisa?”
Sighing heavily, Sam looked down. Even on a planet that she had never been to and that her Mother didn’t frequent she couldn’t outrun it. Everywhere, no matter how far, her Mother’s shadow always cast long and strong over her. It helped in a way, it made Sam more resolute in her quest to carve out her own path. As she nodded to the clerk taking the ID back she said nothing as the clerk slowly stood watching Sam in awe as she started to move away.
“Y-your Mother saved us…she saved us all!!! Force bless and keep her!!!”
Sam shook her head and raised her hand in acknowledgement as she walked away. It was like this everywhere, no matter where she went. But as she stepped up to the next registrar, the one for the trials, things seemed to take a different turn. The man sitting behind this desk as much larger and not at all bored by his duties. He watched the exchange at the customs desk between Sam and the other clerk and now held a wicked smile as he reached his hand out to snatch the ID from Sam. The man stood slowly, his own shadow dwarfing Sam as he loomed over her.
Looking up, Sam could see the tattered battle armor he wore, symbols of both the Republic and the Mirial defense force covering spots that were marred with scorch marks and burns. The scarred face reminded her of her Mother, which along with scars borne of a life of hardship and battle also showed the prominent tattoos of a man who had faced every trial on Mirial…and won.
As he glared at the ID, he looked over the top of it to a smiling Sam, who quickly lost the smile as he leaned forward, “They may kiss the ground you walk on because of your Mother…but here, you will have to earn your place. I don’t give a rats dung hole who your Mother is…out there, on the trail…her memory or her legend ain’t gonna get you past these trials. Not if I can help it…” He shoved the ID back to Sam who took it defiantly and continued her smile at him. ‘At last’, she thought. Looking up at the man with the same look he gave and just a hint of wickedness, Sam replied in kind.
“Thank you, Sir…I expect nothing less…”
