Stargate Force

Chapter 20: To Be One in the Force

One day Sam was with her mother and asked, "Mom, I've been thinking about what Thor said to me about choices."

"We all have them, my daughter. We can't break away from them."

"Indeed, that is my suggestion. From the moment I discovered the lore of the ancient Jedi Knights, my existence has been dedicated to their teachings. Yet, I sense there's a broader purpose to my journey beyond adhering to their chronicled wisdom about the denizens of old. While I aspire to honor their legacy, I am compelled by the profound realization that I must prioritize forging my own path, above all."

A smile played on her lips as she sat beside her daughter. "Sam," she began, "you're having a moment of non-linear thinking there. Now, listen closely. Most of the history you've learned is, well, mostly true, but it's also a bit misleading." A chuckle escaped her lips. "if Daniel could learn everything from those books, then anyone can."

"What we learned had importance."

Oriana shook her head, "You just realized that you have to live out your own life. How can all that be important to you or anyone else?"

She looked at her mother for a long moment and did not understand what she was saying to her. She recalled what Thor told her to see if it would help. There was something very important that she needed to ask. "Thor told me you're me."

"We're essentially the same, just with different paths ahead. That's true for all living things. Our core is identical, which explains why we think and act so similarly."

Does dad know?"

She nodded. "Author did too. I told them both I was a prototype of the Empress of the Jedi Knights. It wasn't by chance you read those journals of mine. I wrote them to allow you to know who you are in life. You are more than an officer in the Air Force or any other profession."

Sam thought over what she said. She asked, "Are you saying that I'm not being the person I was supposed to be?"

"You're speculating again. Find the answers from within you. There's more to being you than your career. It's something deep in you."

She looked perplexed. "I know all about that Mom. What is confusing me is how all that can relate to what is going on with me? I feel that I can be anything I want and do anything I want. I'm happily married to Jack and have two wonderful boys. I feel great!"

"Is that all you feel? You should feel more than one person — yes?"

"With all the splintered selves in me, it's still hard to know all that I feel. Each one has a lifetime of memories. At first, it was a struggle to know which was mine and which was theirs."

Oriana smiled, "They are all you. There should be no conflict. They are simply splinters of you living out life. Allow it all to be the whole you."

"They're me in distinct realities. How can I blend all of that as one person? I lost count on how many splinters there were of me. A good number lived like I could have done under the circumstances. The rest are like I would never have lived that way."

"You just need to spend more time with those memories. They're all you. How they lived is important, but what you can't bring yourself to believe — you would have lived the same way all of your splintered selves have done."

Memories flickered in her mind. Her family, nomads across realities, seamlessly blending into each new world, feeling like natives from birth. For the first time, she focused her own connection, not to blend in, but to pierce the veil. Her mind reached for the source, the reality where it all began, the one where they'd taken her. After she got the results needed, she said, "I don't believe it. Palpatine was after Brandon from the beginning. Why did I not see it then?"