She is fiercely intelligent, and uses her intelect to strategise and analyze, instantly deviseing tactics and actions to ensure her success in most situations. She has a photographic memory.
She suffers from recuuring nightmares of gang rape and violence endured during her adolescence (see history for elaboration) She also has severe trust and commitment issues. She readily identifies with girls in hardship and is easily drawn to protect them.
She is obssessed with the search for her sister (see history for elaboration).
Sam has an athletic figure, slender of bust and hip. She has a narrow waist, and long slender legs. She is not heavily muscled, but instead is highly toned and flexible. She is fleet of foot with high endurance and surprising agility. She is able to move with a fluid grace that makes it appear as though she flows rather than walks.
Her fingernails are kept short, with the exception of her index finger on her right hand. This is to hide her favorite weapon, her finger whip (see history for elaboration on this weapon).
She speaks with a thick Russian accent.
Her prefered clothing is a pair of combat pants, combat boots, and a black sports bra.
At age ten, Sam and Andrea, then 12, were attacked by the son of one of the Noble Lords. Rather than suffer the humiliation the older boy would cause them, they retailiated, injureing the boy before he could escape.
In response, the Sanders family were declared rebels. The farm was burned to the ground and Sam's parents killed. The three daughters were out exploring the countryside when it happened and returned home to find their house ashes and their parents murdered. They ended up living in the streets, constantly fleeing the soldiers of the House they had offended.
At this time, Andrea was 12, Sam 10, and Tish 7.
They survived this way, scavenging and begging for food, for months before a revolution occured. The feudal government fell and anarchy reigned. With the fall of the local law enforcement, the streets began to fill with gang that preyed on the weak and helpless. Because of their age, the girls were spared the interest of the rape gangs, but the theives still sought them.
They survived by stealing what they could, often being beaten if they were caught, and robbed if they weren't.
About three years later, both Samantha and Andrea began to mature physically. They became immediate targets for the rape gangs and their lives became even harder. Tish, being still prepubescent. was not as much of a target.
Unfortunately, they were caught by one group that decided not to spare the younger girl. Tish's body was to frail from both her young age and her malnutrition, and she died as a result of her attack.
For the next tem years, the two surviving members of the Sanders family's live became nothing but running and hiding, and rape and violence when they didn't run fast enough, or hid well enough.
When Sam was 14 (Andrea 16), they had gained passage on a refugee ship fleeing the horrors NL. Unfortunately, their price for passage was almost as hideous as the horror they were trying to escape.
About a week out from NL, their small impulse ship was attacked and boarded by Nausicaan slavers. Sam hid, but her Andrea was captured, along with the rest of the refugees. The men strong enough were deemed for slave labour, the women pretty enough, for slavery of a different kind. Anyone not useful, the elderly and children, were killed there.
Sam hid for hours after they left, taking her sister with them. When she finally crawled out of her hiding place, she found herself adrift in a derilect ship, surrounded by the dead bodies of those who weren't good enough to be slaves.
For weeks she drifted, eating what little food she could find, and then the dead when that ran out.
A Federation scout vessel rescued her then, as it was doing a routine survey and patrol. Sam was taken to a starbase where she was nurse back to health.
She would not speak of who she was or how she came to be on that refugee ship. The medical staff began to refer to her as Mystique, because they had no other name to call her. 'She was a mystery', they said. She liked the nickname and chose to keep it.
When she turned seventeen, Sam decided she would join the Marines. It was her best bet to try and locate her sister. However, there wasn't anyone to sponsor her into the Officer Training Program, so she was forced to enlist instead.
As a marine, she had trained as a scout, drawing on the skills of evasion she had developed back on NL. She could move quickly, quietly, and with great stealth. She could hide anyway. Her photographic memory was a great asset, helping her remember details more accurately. She often gathered vital inteligence that help tilt the odds in favor of the Home Team.
Sam is also skilled in martial arts and small arms. Her favored weapons are throwing stars, with which she is deadly accurate, and her finger whip. This is a thin cord with a weight on the end. It is attached to the underside of the index fingernail on her right hand. When she flicks her finger, the line is pulled out to a length of up to five feet. It then retracts, coiling back under her nail. Not much of a weapon, but certainly useful in it's own way.
After two years of training and service, she found that being stationed to a single garrison wasn't helping her get out and look for her sister. She learned of a marine garrison that was stationed aboard a Starfleet ship. She immediately requested tranfer.
Exit Personnel File