Sam Usaran

Sam Usaran was a pilot for the Rebel Alliance/New Republic as a member of Arrow Squadron. A master strategist and excellent pilot, Sam could usually be seen being followed by his two R7 droid companions Mara and Link.

Early life
Sam Usaran was a male Nagai from Rhommamool. Though he was actually born on Deleya in 18 BBY, his parents soon moved to Rhommamool, where he spent most of his early life. Both of Sam's parents were quite adventurous and loved to explore the galaxy, usually leaving him at home to do chores. On one of his parents’ adventures, they flew too close to a black hole and their ship was destroyed.

A young Sam was eventually found on the inhospitable world by Amaris Jade, a force-sensitive girl who became like a sister to him. Both orphaned, they made a life for themselves by doing odd jobs to make ends meet. Over time, Sam developed his new-found talents of picking locks, manipulation, distractions, and slicing. Eventually, he became a master slicer and stealth tactician, while Amaris used her Force abilities to manipulate others and keep them semi-safe.

One day during Sam’s fifteenth year, his sister went into a trance-like state and spoke in a strange voice, telling him of a blue-skinned woman he must meet and protect. During the prophecy, Sam saw a vision of a Corellian Corvette, and he saw himself sneaking aboard. Once Amaris awoke from her trance, Sam told her what she had said, though she was skeptical of his story. She also became jealous of the blue-skinned woman, as she had been the center of her brother’s world growing up, and scorned the thought of another woman taking her place.

Little did Sam know, Amaris had begun receiving training as a sith assassin in secret as a teenager, and was one day whisked away by a Lambda-class shuttle, chosen by Palpatine to be trained as a Dark Side Adept, though Sam wasn’t told why or where she was taken.

In 0 BBY, a strange-looking corvette arrived at Redhaven’s planetary spaceport. Sam realized it was the ship from his vision three years ago, and hurriedly grabbed his few belongings (primarily his two droids) and stowed away in a compartment under the hangar deck. Little did he know, the Ugly Fortuna had recently been stolen from the Kuat shipyards and was being pursued by security forces. With Sam aboard, the corvette landed at Ryloth, then did an about-face, going all the way to Ord Mantell before landing for good.

Joining Arrow Squadron
Still undetected, Usaran slipped off the Ugly Fortuna and found a place to stay near the spaceport. Not knowing where to find the blue-skinned woman, Sam went back to the life he knew doing odd jobs involving slicing until he stumbled upon Dak Oolron recruiting members for his new squadron, albeit under the cover story of it being a pirate gang. After joining Arrow Squadron, he was surprised to see the corvette he had hitched a ride on being featured as a pocket carrier for the group, though it served as confirmation he was on the right track to fulfill his destiny, whatever it was.

Sam had never piloted a vehicle out of atmosphere, as the only things he had experience with were stolen landspeeders and swoop bikes on Rhommamool. Nevertheless, he was a natural pilot and quickly became proficient flying an early-model Incom T-65 X-Wing starfighter. For year and a half, he was wing-paired with Ash’alcyon, a Twi’lek who also piloted an X-wing. Usaran was one of the most outspoken squadron members calling for a change in name for the Ugly Fortuna. His wish was granted when the squadron agreed, by voting, on a new name in [[starwars:1 ABY|1 ABY: Miss Fortuna.

Thale
A female Chiss pilot named Thale joined the squadron on the first day of 2 ABY. Though he hadn’t told any others about his sister’s prophecy, he was convinced that Thale had to be the blue-skinned woman his sister had spoke of. Unbelievably, Oolron decided to reorganize the squadron with the recent additions, making Sam Thale’s wingman. Sam was elated, but still kept the prophecy to himself, as he didn’t want to freak Thale out.

Several months later, Usaran received an encrypted message from his sister, Amaris Jade, calling for his assistance. Happy to hear from her, but wary of a trap, Sam discussed the situation with his Commander, who allowed him to set out on this personal mission, but not without the help of his wingman, Thale. To make themselves less suspicious, they borrowed one of the Squadron’s decrepit-looking Y-wings so they could travel in a single vehicle.

Sam and Thale survived this mission, bringing them closer together. They felt physically attracted to each another, but struggled with the possibility of it being the result of the emotional comedown from combat. They also knew that being active combat pilots they could risk losing the other at any time. Because of this, they remained close friends, and for the most part refrained from dating, though they were often seen together. Sam felt that he and Thale “balance[d] each other out quite well,” since Sam was very talkative and Thale was fairly quiet.

Zeltros
"I was orphaned... I don't give a bantha's backside about my race anymore! Kriffing Sithspawn..."

- Sam Usaran

Due to being stationed on the opposite side of the galaxy, Arrow Squadron did not participate in the Battle of Endor. Soon after the battle, the squadron was deployed along the Trellen Trade Route to scout out potential sites for future Alliance bases. While they were in the Commenor system, they received a distress call from the Heroes of Yavin, who had fallen under attack during a diplomatic mission to Zeltron.

Since they were relatively close to Zeltron, Commander Oolron decided to abort their mission and come to the aid of their allies. It wasn’t until they arrived that they discovered that it was a four-way battle, with one of the parties composed of Sam’s species, the Nagai. Oolron wondered if Usaran might have a conflict of interests, but Sam assured him that he had always felt abandoned by the Nagai after his parents’ death and still harbored strong resentment against them.

Usaran fought like a madman during the battle, causing some grief for Thale, who as his wingman just tried to keep up. Eventually, the tide turned and the Tof, one of the other parties engaged, wiped out most all of the Nagai. Arrow Squadron continued to provide close air support until the prisoners were able to defeat their Tof captors.

After the battle, the Nagai decided to ally themselves with the Alliance, joining forces to face the greater threat of the Tof. As a result, Usaran decided he could make himself tolerate his new allies, though he still found their stuck-up, honor-centered attitudes hard to bear.

Thrawn
In 8 ABY, Usaran, now a Lieutenant, was given an E-wing prototype to test for FreiTek. Within a few months, Thrawn began wreaking havoc upon the still unsteady New Republic. Sam had some frustrating moments in the new craft, but improvised his way out of problems and was starting to become quite comfortable with the fighter by the end of the conflict.

Dac
Sam’s most famous battle came in 10 ABY at the First Battle of Mon Calamari. Due to his experience with the prototype model, Usaran was chosen to lead a squadron of E-Wings. His bravery during the battle led to his promotion to the rank of Captain. Unfortunately, the squadron suffered heavy losses during the intense battle, namely all four fighters of Foxtrot Flight. Oolron decided to reorganize the squadron, with Sam moving to lead Foxtrot Flight. Thale also moved to Foxtrot Flight so as to remain his wingman.

Dissolution of Arrow Squadron
Arrow Squadron continued to serve the New Republic until open conflict between the New Republic and Imperial Remnant were brought to an end by the signing of the Pellaeon–Gavrisom Treaty (19 ABY). After the treaty was signed, Thale decided to retire from the squadron and join Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum to train and further her knowledge of the Force. Thale’s resignation precipitated the dissolution of the squadron in 20 ABY. Due to his experience and rank, Usaran went on to lead a New Republic E-wing squadron during the Yuuzhan Vong War and beyond. Though they were no longer members of the same unit, Thale and Sam maintained their friendship by staying in holo-contact with one another.

Personality and traits
Sam Usaran was a talkative, sarcastic, prankster, yet was also a very loyal and trustworthy companion. However, his independent temperament meant that he was not unwilling to disobey orders if he felt it was for the greater good. He could also be a bit impulsive at times despite his strategic mindset. In his downtime, he enjoyed hanging out with fellow squadron members, but sometimes sought peaceful solitude. He was known to be extremely competitive when it came to hologames, and added gaming modules to his astromechs so they could play with or against him. Sam’s personality clashed violently with the traditional Nagai concerns over honor. Usaran described himself as “intense, yet humorous,” which Commander Oolron agreed was an accurate self-assessment. Some noted Usaran and Oolron’s shared ability of Stealth, but Usaran claimed he was easily differentiated from Oolron due to being “much better looking.”

Force Pike
Growing up on Rhommamool, Sam witnessed many criminals and unruly miners being “disciplined” by Stormtroopers and Osarian authorities. The weapon of choice in these affairs was the force pike. The vibro-edged head of this weapon contained a stun module that could knock a full-grown Wookiee unconscious using a concentrated nerve impulse similar to that featured in the stun setting of a blaster rifle. The impulse worked by overloading the central nervous system, effectively knocking the victim unconscious. When the vibro-edge was set to maximum it could rip through steel bulkheads and easily dismember most organic beings. Sam saw the value of a tool that would allow him to gain access into almost any building or ship, as well as doubling as a potent melee weapon if things went awry.

Determined to obtain his future weapon of choice, a teenage Usaran snuck into Rhommamool’s lone Stormtrooper garrison at Redhaven and stole two pikes out of the armory in the dead of night. Though it wasn’t simple, Sam disassembled the two poles and reassembled them as a single weapon, with a blade on each end. With practicality in mind, Usaran designed the new weapon to be able to retract on each end for storage as well as eliminating some unnecessary length from the original models. In its completed form, Sam’s custom pike could extend to longer than a standard force pike, but folded to half a stock pike’s length.

Usaran used the weapon extensively after its creation, especially as a tool in his profession as a slicer/stealth specialist. While he was an average shot with a blaster, in combat situations he preferred to use his custom-built, dual-bladed force pike just for the sheer thrill of using it!

Vehicles
Sam began his service with Arrow Squadron in the cockpit of a X-Wing, but is best known for his prowess in the E-Wing escort starfighter. In 8 ABY, Usaran was given an E-wing prototype to test for FreiTek. Like many of the others in the squadron, Sam adorned his fighter with nose art, in this case his spacecraft’s new name: Splinter Cell, named after his favorite hologame.

After mass production of the E-wing began in 10 ABY, Incom decided to formally give Usaran the prototype model he had grown fond of. Now that it was his personal craft, Sam began making custom modifications to the already potent snubfighter.

One of the first modifications was the addition of a second astromech slot, as previously only one of his droids could accompany him at a time. While the droid that was left behind was able to run diagnostics and perform maintenance once the ship returned, adding a second on-board droid augmented the ship’s in-flight capabilities.

The second significant upgrade was a reconfiguration of the torpedo launching system. Originally, the E-Wing was designed with a single proton torpedo launcher, with a magazine capacity of 16 torpedoes. Sam disliked the possibility of a launcher malfunction completely crippling his ability to use torpedoes and added a second launcher, similar to many older Alliance fighters. While the second launcher was of the same model, the extra space it took up inside the hull decreased each launcher’s capacity from 16 to 11, resulting in a total of 22 torpedoes.

Much later, Sam equipped his laser cannons with the ability to stutter fire; that is, extremely rapid bursts of lower-strength lasers. At some point, rear chaff and flare countermeasures were also installed.

During a conversation with squadmate Adatin Perfor, Sam once joked that he needed to equip his ship with anti-theft measures, after Adatin praised the abilities of Sam’s ship. It is unknown whether such precautions were ever put in place.

Droids
Sam Usaran could usually be seen being followed by his two R7 droid companions Mara and Link. His father provided Sam with his first R7 droid, which he named Mara. Mara shared Sam's love of pranks and sarcasm and is very "talkative.” After the death of his parents, Sam inherited his father's R7 droid, renaming it Link. Link was a very gifted repair droid and was quieter than Mara but still had a sense of humor. Both are dome top droids; Link was painted Silver and Black in honor of Sam's parents while Mara was Yellow and Black. Link and Mara are noted for helping Usaran find a solution to the problem the E-wing’s laser cannons initially had.