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Samantha Crerar was born the youngest of five to Albert and Susan Crerar, on the boarder world Santos. Her four older siblings were all brothers, and on the border worlds, growing up was rough. Her parents made ends meet through less than legal or ethical means, they were slavers. In fact, Susan had been an indentured slave to Albert before their marriage.
Growing up was interesting, to say the least. The education Sam received wasn't the best, aside from basic arithmetic and some reading, she didn't learn anything in school. She grew up having to help her parents in their job, they taught her to shoot and guard the slaves, and of course, she had to feed them. She didn't like the life she was leading, nor did her siblings. Her older brother Richard was the first to leave, when he left, they had no idea where he went to work with his life. Two of her brothers, Jack and Phil, stayed with the trading, at least as far as she knows.
Shortly after she turned 15, Sam and her brother Ed stole a ship, and killed four slavers, before heading for the closest planet to sign onto the war. Ed lied about Sam's age, which helped her get in. The fact that the Browncoats were already low on personnel helped. Because she had some experience working on the wounds of her parents "product", Sam got into the medic program. It was a quick and dirty 2 month course before she was sent off to the war.
The war changed Sam more than she, at fifteen, could have imagined. Four and a half years of constant battle, the loss of many friends, and the ever present fear of dying. Still, Crerar turned into an excellent medic and soldier. At the battle of Du Khang, though the corporal's military career ended with a bang and a hole in her abdomen. She was treated by the Alliance and taken into custody as a prisoner of war.
She stayed in prison until the end of the war, when she was released. Although she got a note from her older brother Richard, who had become an Alliance officer and pulled some strings, she couldn't accept his help. She was still young, but more aged now, matured by the war. Unable to find a legitamite job, she started freelancing as a mercenary. Life as a mercenary wasn't too bad, changing ships every few months or years, mostly avoiding the Alliance, though racking up quite a record.