During the Jihad, the Taurian Concordat defeated a large Blakist force at Portland. Though the casualties proved devastating for both sides, the Taurians walked away with the salvage, including a large number of Blakist-used weapons of war. Two Magellan-class JumpShips were captured as well.
         The Taurian Concordat used the two ships throughout the Jihad, keeping them one step ahead of Blakist headhunters and moving what forces they could. They survived everything the Blakists threw at them until the Jihad ended and the Concordat began the terrible process of rebuilding.
         Taurian technicians finally stripped the two JumpShips down to learn the secrets they contained. Then ComStar released the old pre-Star League jump core to the Star League and the Taurians purchased the plans from a Lyran contact they'd maintained for decades. They quickly put the plans to good use and rebuilt the two Magellans into the first two JumpShips constructed by the Taurian Concordat since the first Star League's invasion of the Old Periphery.
         The new ship, the Samantha, carried heavy weapons loads with the best Taurian technology available, heavier armor, 24 small craft, and larger cargo holds than the Magellans. It also had docking ports for up to four DropShips and four massive 300 meter grav decks. Captains often place as many as a full Air Division of fighters on board in place of cargo shuttles, making them credible carriers. An expanded crew section allows for almost triple the old number of crewers, in typical Taurian style, and a seperate passenger section allows for another 150 passengers, though thirty of the passenger quarters are designed for the use of its onboard marine contingent.
         The Samantha has since become the most common JumpShip in the Taurian Concordat, used in both military and commercial concerns as its armor and weapons make it effective in both fleet actions and as a simple merchant ship. They have also been sold to their Trinity Alliance friends and the Raven Alliance, making them a commonly-seen ship in the Rimward Outer Sphere and Periphery. Few pirates in the outer reaches wish to anger over twenty fighters, and those same fighters can easily turn the tide of a major fleet action, making the Samanthas a valuable weapon in the Taurian Concordat's, and by extension her allies', battle for survival.

Samantha and Taurens
         The first two Samanthas built, the two ships survived both the Jihad and the St. Ives/Trinity War, though they were horribly scarred during the later. Their long history of jury-rigging, stripping, and rebuilding has left a legacy of phantom technical glitches, and they suffered through a combined twenty miss-jumps while in service. They now orbit Taurus, tied up to an orbital observation platform where they act as tourist attractions. The funds received from touring groups keeps the ships technically capable of moving, but insiders hope they never set sail again.