Nova Terra

"Sometimes forgetting what's behind is the only way to look ahead."

- A memo kept in mind by Nova

November Annabella "Nova" Terra, a.k.a. Agent X41822N is a female terran ghost.

Early Life
"Honestly Tino, what are you teaching this girl?"

- Andrea Tygore to Constantino Terra, after hearing Nova's praise for servants.

Nova Terra was born into the Terra family, one of the Terran Confederacy's rich and powerful "Old Families". The family lived in the Terra Skyscraper in Tarsonis City, Tarsonis. She possessed a degree of empathy that was generally lacking in the Old Families, a trait that did not go unnoticed. She also believed strongly in the concept of fair play.

Unknown to Nova, a great deal of her empathy was due to her telepathic abilities. Her father, Constantino, was aware of her talents, if not the full extent of them. Without training she could only sense emotions and at seven years of age was told that she was "empathetic". Normally, psychic children were conscripted into the Ghost Program by wranglers. However her family hid her abilities from the Program, and her father attempted to prevent Nova from realizing she was psychic.

At her fifteenth birthday party, Nova learned that she was psychic by reading the mind of Morgan Calabas, a "suitor".

Betrayal and Flight
The Old Families began planning to send some of their children away from Tarsonis to the relative safety of a resort on Tyrador IX, due to the rising number of attacks against the Old Families and the escalating war the Confederacy found itself in against alien invaders and numerous rebel groups such as the Sons of Korhal. Nova Terra's parents agreed to send her away. Despite her protests, and Edward Peters' support, three days after her fifteenth birthday party she boarded a vessel for Tyrador IX. However, Nova felt her parents' minds as they were killed by anti-Confederate rebels and she quickly disembarked.

Nova returned to find that Edward Peters, Gustavo McBain, and other rebels were murdering her family and their employees. Peters ordered McBain to shoot Nova but now, with her psychic powers elevated by the mental stress caused by the carnage she had just witnessed, she unleashed powerful telepathic and telekinetic abilities without any control. A large section of the Terra Skyscraper was destroyed, and all of her would-be murderers, as well as many hundreds of nearby people, were killed. Nova then fled to "the Gutter", as far away from her former life as possible. The trauma of recent events led her close to suicide.

The destructive spectacle was proof enough that Nova Terra would be a valuable addition to the Ghost Program. Director Ilsa Killiany ordered wrangler Malcolm "Mal" Kelerchian to bring Nova in, assigning her the code X41822N even though the wayward psychic was not yet formally part of the Program.

The Gutter
"In your world, people didn't die. Or if they did, it was neat-tidy. We don't do tidy here in the Gutter. We do ugly, we do nasty, we do mean..."

- Fagin "introduces" Nova to the Gutter

Shortly after Nova Terra arrived in the Gutter, two men attempted to rape her. They were unsuccessful and severely injured by Terra's telekinesis. The goons worked for the crime lord of the Gutter, Julius Antoine "Fagin" Dale. Monitoring her through traffic monitors, Fagin resolved to "acquire" her for her psychic abilities and, deducing from her expensive clothing, a ransom.

Terra was brought before Fagin but, despite being in a fragile state of mind, refused to serve him. Reading minds she realized that Fagin's chief lieutenant, Markus Ralian, wanted him dead. However, Terra was unable to intimidate Fagin nor provoke him to kill her. Instead, Fagin let Terra go and ordered the shopkeepers not to feed her. Fagin was confident that starvation would force Terra to serve him.

Four days later Nova gave up on starvation. While seeking food, she saw a UNN newscast featuring Clara Terra, who claimed that her entire family had been killed. Nova lashed out mentally. Fagin, who was watching through cameras, learned Nova Terra's true identity. Realizing that he would be unable to ransom her, as he would be destroyed by the retaliation of the Old Families, he ordered a reliable enforcer, "the Pitcher", to kill her. Despite four days of starvation and partial dehydration Nova Terra easily killed the Pitcher by destroying his brain with her mental powers. She carried on by stealing food and resolved to go after Fagin for ordering her death.

Fagin responded by acquiring a psi-screen from Confederate Army Supply Sergeant Morwood (the device rendered him immune to telepathy), then surrounded himself with insane heavily armed guards, drug addicts who desperately needed a fix, and children. Although distracted by the thoughts of the drug addicts Terra defeated the ambushing gunmen and confronted Fagin again. Fagin ordered his men to kill the children one by one until she surrendered while he used his psi-screen to torture Terra at range. Unable to bear more, Terra surrendered.

Escape from Madness
"Agent Kelerchian, I've killed three hundred and eighty-two people, and felt thirty-two more, including my own family, die in my head. I can tell you everything about every single one of those people-all four hundred and fourteen of them-including what they were thinking the moment they died. What makes you think I want to remember any of that?"

- Nova accepts Kelerchain's offer to join the Ghost Program.

Fagin used Nova as a "loyalty detector" and assassin. Those who failed to pass Terra's test were murdered. She was prevented from going outside which made it difficult for Malcolm Kelerchian and his allies to locate her. Over that same time Fagin had become progressively more unpredictable, killing people, even his own children, almost on a whim, due to overuse of the psi-screen. Markus Ralian's desire for Fagin's death only grew, but he could not bring himself to do it. Terra had no trouble reading this from his mind. Terra knew the psi-screen couldn't protect Fagin from her telekinesis, but she never had the opportunity to use it on him.

Meanwhile Agent Kelerchian discovered her location from contacts in the police force. To help him secure Terra, he was ordered by Ilsa Killiany to take with him Major Esmerelda Ndoci and her "Annihilators", a marine unit ill-suited for such a delicate mission but they were all that was available. The Sons of Korhal offensive on Tarsonis' space platforms were not an ideal theater for a ground-based unit like the Annihilators. With ghosts in short supply acquiring a powerful psychic was an "alpha priority" and they were ordered to bring Terra in unharmed.

Kelerchian resolved to bargain with Fagin first, and if that failed then he would "summon the marines". As the wrangler discovered, Fagin's mental faculties made bargaining difficult if not impossible. As the crime lord ranted Terra used her powers, forcing Ralian to shoot and kill Fagin. Kelerchian let Terra scan his mind and she learned that if she went with Kelerchian she would become a ghost. She also learned that a memory wipe was a standard part of the training regimen. This Terra saw as an incentive, as she did not want to remember the deaths and murders.

A satisfactory end to the operation was interrupted by the penetration of the orbital defenses by the Sons of Korhal. Killiany transferred oversight of the operation from Kelerchian to Ndoci, who directed her troops to kill everybody except for Terra (no exception was made for Kelerchian). In the ensuing firefight Fagin's compound collapsed. Ralian was killed, while Terra and Kelerchian were trapped together, and Ndoci was trapped elsewhere in the building.

Terra used her powers to rescue herself and Kelerchian, but the latter was severely wounded. Terra forced Ndoci to summon medical aid for Kelerchian by threatening to reveal her dangerous tactics (nearly killing an alpha priority target) to Ilsa Killiany. Then the zerg attacked, but Terra, Kelerchian, and Ndoci survived.

Ghost Training
"She's our star pupil. I've never seen anyone so determined to make it through this program."

- Director Kevin Bick commenting on Nova.

Nova Terra was taken the based on Ursa. Despite her considerable psychic power she started at a disadvantage due to the ill-effects of months of abuse and malnutrition and she barely handled Sergeant Hartley's physical training regime. She was the focus of resentment, jealousy and sexual desire from many of her fellow trainees.

Six months into training Terra met Kelerchian again, and discovered (through mind reading) that the wrangler was being sent on a one way mission to Sakrysta Mining Base by Emperor Arcturus Mengsk. They said their farewells and parted ways.

Team Blue
"It doesn't matter where we came from-the big skyscrapers or the crap slums or some of both. Doesn't matter what we did. It does matter where we're goin'. We're becomin' something greater than ourselves. And if you ask me, that's damn solid. I agree."

- Gabriel Tosh and Nova

As her training progressed, Nova Terra became part of Team Blue as part of the Academy's curriculum of team-based training. This presented a challenge for Terra as her experiences in the Gutter had taught her self-reliance – a strength that became a weakness in the squad.

One of her first training missions was the Valerian hostage rescue scenario. While Gabriel Tosh directed fellow teammates Kath Toom and Lio Travski, Terra ran off and tried to complete the mission by herself. Her teammates messed up and "died", enabling Terra to almost succeed. "Sparky" and Preceptor Lagdamen both rated her highly, something which Terra herself disagreed with. As Terra headed to her next class, she thought she saw a child, whom she would notice several times during her stay.

Terra was rudely confronted by Dylanna Okyl, the leader of Team Red. While Okyl hadn't scored as highly, she hadn't let her whole team "die". Terra ignored her. Tosh privately tried to convince Terra to display teamwork, but she brushed off his advice. Toom was left upset by the encounter. Terra displayed high competence but a lack of teamwork in other training scenarios. After several encounters with Okyl, in which Terra blamed her team for their poor performance, Tosh shouted at her that if she had worked with them, their poor performance wouldn't have mattered. The lesson finally sunk in.

Terra cooperated with Kath Toom on an assignment and later, upon meeting new trainee Delta Emblock, whose background had left her without schooling (which Terra learned by accidentally scanning her), Terra helped her with her literacy test. Toom was so surprised by this new attitude she asked what happened to the old Nova Terra. While celebrating Emblock's successful literacy test, Toom and Tosh discussed similarities between their backgrounds and Terra's. However, Tosh's comments hit too close to home, prompting Terra to run off. She suffered nightmares that night, which Tosh felt because he didn't sleep with a psi-screen on.

Terra participated in another Valerian scenario. This time she worked with her team, including new teammate Aal Cistler. However, as the scenario finished, Lio Travski suffered a bad reaction from drug abuse. Terra, recognizing the symptoms from her days in the Gutter, called for medical assistance. This brought her to the attention of Superintendent Sarco Angelini, who had been secretly testing the effects of drug abuse on Travski's psychic abilities. He memory wiped Terra and Travski so they would forget that experience. Terra now found herself uncomfortable with the prospect of memory wiping, as she would forget friends like Kath Toom. Angelini watched this conversation through the surveillance system. Meanwhile, Terra was promoted to third-class due to her new positive attitude and high scores. However, Terra's attitude toward the Ghost Program had worsened. She thought they were sloppy about numerous things, such as their psi-screens.

Mind Games
"If they catch us...it's against the rules. We're just talking Tosh. We haven't broken any rules...yet."

- Tosh and Nova begin to fall for each other.

Terra's abilities made her Team Blue's "ace in the hole," at least in Tosh's mind. However, despite the teamwork, Team Blue began to fall apart, the reasons including Tosh's admiration for her turning into distracting attraction. This was one of the reasons Dylanna Okyl was so aggravated by Terra; Okyl had a crush on Tosh.

During a training scenario against zerg-bots, Terra detected a "controlling consciousness" behind them&mdash;Sarco Angelini&mdash;and psychically attacked him. Angelini quickly ended the scenario, but was very impressed. He wished the other ghosts were as powerful as her. As Okyl ranted about their performance, Terra read her mind, learning about her attraction to Tosh. Okyl was humiliated.

Aal Cistler used his father's influence to return to the Academy, and immediately joined Okyl's Team Red. At martial arts training, a bitter Okyl challenged Terra to a "duel", but Tosh stood up for her. Okyl beat him up. Afterward Tosh and Terra kissed while out of the view of security cameras, even though Academy policies forbade dating between students. When Delta Emblock asked her about it, she said she just wanted some happiness now, and they technically weren't dating anyway.

Tosh feared what could happen to them if Okyl found out and reported them. For this reason he rejected Nova's further advances to protect her. An emotionally stunned Terra then ran into Okyl and Cistler; the latter promised to ruin her. Terra then stumbled across the "spirit" of Colin Phash, who was using his astral projection ability to ask for help. He lured her to a restricted area.

Terra warned her other team members about Cistler's plans while meeting up with a newly-confident Lio Travski. Teams Blue and Red were taking part in a "live fire" (but non-lethal) exercise. Okyl arranged for her entire team to focus on Terra, believing her to be the only threat on Team Blue. She wanted to be the one to beat up Terra. Team Blue, except for Terra and Travski, were taken out. Okyl and Cistler skirted a group of abandoned SCVs in order to reach Terra, but Travski used his technopathic abilities to activate them and capture the entirety of Team Red.

The exercise was terminated, and both teams informed they would join into a new team and take part in a training mission away from the Academy, on the fifth planet of The Baker's Dozen.

The Battle of Shi
Team Purple, overseen by Preceptor Lagdamen, was transported to the star system on the battlecruiser Cyrus, commanded by Commodore Georg Darabont. During the trip, Nova learned from a crew member that the ship was significantly underpowered as the crew were trying to not think about the ship's history. Other trainees also learned that the crew were regarded as "cowards" for retreating at the Battle of Tarsonis.

At The Baker's Dozen star system, the ship diverted to the fourth planet when Lio Travski picked up a distress signal via his technopathic abilities. Darabont was swayed due to the chance to fight the zerg and prove he wasn't a coward, but Lagdamen opposed going into combat on the "wrong" planet. Upon the realization that it was being sent from a mining post by the Kusinis Twins&mdash;friends from Nova's life as a child of the Old Families, Nova demanded that she personally take part in their rescue.

The marines landed on Shi but were inundated by waves of zerg from a hatchery cluster south of Mandible Canyon. Darabont ordered the use of Apocalypse-class nuclear missiles. These would be fired by Dylanna Okyl and Aal Cistler and guided by Nova. The mission was a success, allowing a landing zone to be established. Afterward, through her telepathy, Nova discovered that more Old Family scions, Morgan Calabas and Antonia Tygore, were also alive on the world.

As Team Purple and the marines cleared out the remaining zerg from the area, Nova came across the Kusinis Twins while the rest of the troops found Calabas and Tygore. Nova and the Kusinis Twins linked up with the other troops. However, more zerg arrived in force from previously undetected hatcheries on the far side of Mandible Canyon, destroying the transports.

The cloaked ghosts were discovered by overlords, forcing a hard fight. The Cyrus was itself shot down by spore cannons. The zerg invaded, killing both Darabont and Mirne.

Gabriel Tosh took the opportunity to rekindle his relationship with Nova. He said he had broken up with her to protect her, but realized this had only hurt her. Nova was receptive to his advance. Morgan Calabas, who had carried a keepsake of Nova, apologized for his previous behavior. Nova forgave him. Meanwhile Travski used his powers to track the Cyrus. It was damaged but still "alive", and he believed he could use his abilities to repair it. However, making it there and keeping it safe would require time and protection. Nova Terra's psionic abilities, which could inflict massive damage in a four-block radius, would be useful here. Aal Cistler suggested she lure the zerg, but Lagdamen and Tosh disapproved of the plan. Terra decided to go through with it. She would attack the hatchery cluster. Tosh decided to go with her.

The terrans headed to the Cyrus while they were cloaked by Travski. He then used his powers to begin repairing the ship. Toom used her shooting skills to take out overlords.

As Tosh and Terra headed out, Lagdamen gave the cloaking device controls to Tosh. Along the way they encountered walking spore crawlers, which they had to avoid. The Cyrus fell under attack, but eventually the zerg retreated as Nova Terra was "powering up" her psychic abilities there.

Tosh had to flee the area as Terra was charging up. He ran out of energy for his cloaking device and had to fight zerg. As he struggled to get clear, Terra was also under attack. When she alerted him to this fact, he told her he was clear but he hadn't actually made it out of the blast radius. Terra unleashed her power, frying the zerg and hatcheries. She found a crippled, barely alive Tosh. A distraught Nova kept Tosh alive through psychic healing.

The Cyrus, now repaired, picked up the two ghosts. Tosh's brain was scanned. The Cyrus was able to leave Shi now that the zerg had been reduced in number or eliminated.

For all of Team Purple's efforts however, they weren't to remember it, as per Arcturus Mengsk's orders. Within a few days of the battle, the entire team bar Tosh had been memory wiped, Nova included. In the same period, UNN announced that the Old Family children the ghosts and marines had rescued had been killed by the zerg nearly a year ago during the Great War. Nova, remembering her Old Family friends but not the part she'd played in her rescue, went to visit Tosh. He tried to tell her about what really happened, but Nova was entrenched in the cover story of the "accident" that had injured Tosh and the "delusions" he was having as a result. With each ghost entrenched in his/her own truth, the two failed to reconcile. Tosh said everything would be like before... as if nothing ever happened.

War Pigs


Later, in 2502, Nova was assigned to shadow the War Pigs&mdash;a group of outlaws gone rogue from the Dominion.

Graduation
"Yes, Cliff. I'm the one who killed all your people. I killed Edward and Gustavo and Adam and Tisch and all the other ones you sent to kill my family. Because you did that, I became the very Ghost that the Dominion has assigned to finally put an end to your pathetic existance."

- Nova confronts Cliff Nadaner. Nova pulled through and completed her ghost training in a record two and a half years, whereas it normally took four years.

Nearing the end of her training Nova Terra was met by Emperor Arcturus Mengsk himself, who gave her a final training assignment: kill Cliff Nadaner, a former anti-Confederate terrorist turned anti-Dominion terrorist. Nadaner had led the group that sent Edward Peters, Gustavo McBain and others to kill her family. Terra was to go to Tyrador VIII alone and kill Nadaner with only her mental powers. She was inserted via drop pod with only some of a ghost's standard equipment. Terra successfully located her target, eliminating the defending troops. She verbally confronted Nadaner for ruining her life and killed him last.

Upon completion of her training, Nova was designated Agent X41822N and received a memory wipe, becoming yet another ghost single-mindedly focused on serving the Dominion and destroying the Dominion's enemies.

Ghosts of the Past
"November Terra is dead. I'm Agent X41822N of the Terran Dominion. I don't want to be anybody else."

- Nova



New Sydney
"The enemies of the Terran Dominion were everywhere and the Ghosts were the best line of defense against them. It was all Nova ever thought about."

- Nova's thoughts on New Sydney

During a mission against the Koprulu Liberation Front on New Sydney Nova would again meet the Annihilators. Esmerelda Ndoci recognized Nova but due to the memory wipe Nova no longer recognized Ndoci, nor did she particularly care.

Other Missions
Terra would encounter Ndoci at least one more time. During this mission, Ndoci died during transport in a zerg firefight. Captain Spaulding would blame Terra for this death.

Terra conducted a number of assassination missions, and even encountered the protoss on the world of Braken.

Altara
Sometime after New Sydney, Nova was attached to Nova Squadron as part of a mission to Altara to investigate the disappearance of a fellow ghost and a wrangler sent to locate her. She was granted her own quarters on the battlecruiser Palatine. Arriving at the world, it was discovered that a zerg force was en route to the planet as well. Through her telepathic abilities, Nova could sense that the zerg were here for a specific reason, and that their presence was not a coincidence. She informed Colonel Jackson Hauler of this development. Aware that the marines of the Palatine had little experience against the zerg, she requested that she be sent in solo, in order to do reconnaissance and to give the marines time to prepare, to provide support if necessary. Hauler agreed to her request.

Nova made her way across the surface, keeping in contact with Hauler as she did so. She made it to the site of the wrangler's ship, but against her advice, Hauler began deploying ground forces, stirring up the zerg. To make matters worse, the marines had little experience against the zerg and their CO, Lieutenant Chet Ward, was oblivious to the effects this lack of experience could have on the outcome of the battle. He ignored Nova's advice for the most part and the marines he sent to scout the zerg position were quickly overwhelmed by roaches and zerglings. The bulk of the ground forces were hard pressed by the xenomorphs, but Nova was practically unstoppable, her psionic powers and C-20A rifle felling numerous zerg. She turned the tide by acting as bait for the zerg, drawing them into a crossfire. Nova emerged unscathed and the zerg were mowed down in a hail of gunfire. Ward grudgingly thanked her, but Nova brushed him off, ordering him and his men to set up a defensive perimeter while she headed off to find the wrangler.

The wrangler turned out ot be Kelerchian, though while he recognised her, a history of mind wipes prevented Nova from doing the same. She used her telekinetic abilities to get him to safety, though this was a task not made easy by the zerg closing in on her position. During the fighting, a hydralisk damaged the filters of her face mask, which left her exposed to the terrazine gas present. Nova kept fighting, providing a distraction to let the Grizzlies carry the marines to safety, but the terrazine started to rejuvinate her memory, granting her flashbacks of her time with Fagin, her mission to Shi and the death of her family. Nova finished off the zerg with a mind blast, then passed out.

Whispers and Memories
Nova awoke in the medical bay of the Palatine, and was greeted by Captain Rourke and Doctor Shaw. The CO explained that her mind blast had erradicated the zerg forces present, saving the Nova Squadron ones. Nova however, still had problems, namely hallucinations and flashbacks&mdash;the consequences of her terrazine exposure. Shaw brushed her concerns aside, though was also hiding something from her...aside from his obvious contempt for the ghost, as sensed by her telepathy. Regardless, Rourke took Nova to see Kelerchian and while she didn't immediately recognise him, the flashbacks filled in some of the blanks, how Kelerchian had been the one to recruit her into the Ghost Program. He went on to provide an account of his mission to Altara until the pair were summoned to the bridge for a report on the effects of terrazine and how it had lured the zerg in. During this period, Emperor Arcturus Mengsk contacted the vessel, ordering that he be allowed to converse with Nova and Kelerchian privately. Although aggravated, Hauler agreed and granted the pair the comm. room in privacy.

Nova could sense unease from both Mengsk and Kelerchian. There was good reason for it, as Mengsk revealed that there'd never been any report of a UED cell on Altara, nor had he given the order to send a ghost in to investigate. Mengsk elaborated on the shadow war the Dominion had been waging over the last few months and wanted the perpetrators stopped before the truth was revealed. The pair were ordered to find the missing ghosts and shut down those responsible for the abductions.

The pair's first order of business was to make inquiries in the Altaran town of Oasis. While few of the townsfolk had any useful information, they heard from a smuggler that an Umojan spy had appeared in the town several weeks ago. Kelerchian was feeling the psionic effect of fellow ghosts assigned to help them and Nova began to feel something too, its psionic nature standing out from the rest of the town. It was a spectre, one that supposedly got the best of fellow ghost, Agent X72341R. It was also at this point that she encountered a young telepath named Lila, who had had a brush-in with the spectre as well. Nova learnt of her past through telepathy and developed an attatchment to her, given that her circumstances were akin to her own ordeal in the Gutter (so remembered due to her terrazine exposure). Nova offered to take her back to Korhal, but was slightly uneasey at the prospect, knowing that Lila would likely be conscripted into the Ghost Program.

Nova and Kelerchian returned to the Palatine where they met the assembled ghosts assigned to them and, as per their real names being classified, assigned nicknames&mdash; "Bones" (from the surface), "Lethal", "Rook", "the Veteran", "Rip" and "Guns." Along with Rourke and Hauler, they discussed the information that had been gathered on the surface. Despite Rourke's suggestions to the contrary, Nova maintained that the disapearences were related, and that the UED wasn't responsible. She also pointed out that given the locations of the abductions, the insurgents had to be using a mobile base of operations.

Nova ended up capturing numerous spectres. They were imprisoned in New Folsom Prison.

Wings of Liberty
"Well, well - the infamous Jim Raynor. My name is Nova. We should talk."

- Nova introduces herself to Jim Raynor During the Second Great War, Nova was sent to assassinate spectre Gabriel Tosh and stop his spectre program. Tosh was working with Raynor's Raiders and had so far neglected to inform the rebels of his true nature or intentions. Nova attempted to dissuade further cooperation by sending an anonymous message to the Raiders exposing Tosh as a spectre.

Raynor was prepared to continue working with Tosh, especially as they both had anti-Dominion goals. Nova learned of the operation to raid New Folsom Prison and decided to contact Raynor directly in an attempt to forestall the operation. She revealed the prison held captured spectres, which Tosh wanted to reactivate with the jorium and terrazine the Raiders had procured for him. Furthermore, she claimed all spectres became psychopathic killers, and that Tosh would inevitably crack and betray Raynor. The ghost exaggerated the risk posed by spectres. Finally she warned a jailbreak would inevitably release prisoners better left imprisoned.

Raynor was disappointed by Tosh's secrecy, but was willing to continue working with the anti-Dominion spectre, rather than with a Dominion agent. The prison guards were forewarned of the impending raid by Nova, but were ultimately unable to prevent the breakout.

"Strictly business."

- Nova assaulting Gabriel Tosh's base.

Raynor was convinced by Nova's argument. The ghost and Raynor's Raiders destroyed the spectre's training facility. Tosh himself was killed by Nova while arguing remotely with Raynor. For their assistance, Nova gave the Raiders the material needed to train ghosts. She also ominously told Raynor that she'd be seeing him. She sometimes appeared in the armory afterward, randomly cloaking and uncloaking. The ghost gave the Raiders Tosh's knife and voodoo doll as trophies.

Heart of the Swarm
"Begin your sweep. Find Kerrigan!"

- Nova leads a task force

In 2506, Nova led a task force which attacked the lab housing Kerrigan, some time after her defeat on Char. Jim Raynor attempted to defend her, but it was a moot point, as Kerrigan eliminated her would-be assassins.

StarCraft: Ghost
Nova is the player character in StarCraft: Ghost. Her appearance shifted from "realistic" to a more "anime-ish" look when Swingin' Ape Studios was purchased by Blizzard and their console design teams were merged.

In the campaign, she was sometimes guided by General Horace Warfield. At some point in the game's storyline, she would come to choose between loyalties to Arcturus Mengsk and Colonel Hauler.

Psionic Abilities
Nova's psionic abilities include cloaking, psionic sight (which enables her to see heat signatures) and psionic speed (which quadruples her speed). She could also use psi blast (knock down opponents surrounding her) and psi stun (stun an opponent by touch).

Weapons
Nova typically carries an AGR-14 assault rifle and a sniper rifle, and sometimes uses the E-11 lockdown device; however, she can use nearly any terran weapon that she can pick up such as the Perdition flamethrower, C-14 rifle and Torrent SR-8 shotgun.

Nova can use a variety of grenades, like other ghosts.

Nova can also use the psyblade as a melee weapon. It is designed from a combination of terran and protoss technology.

General Combat Abilities
Nova is capable of a wide variety of combat moves, including climbing and sliding down ziplines. Nova can also kill silently by sneaking up on an opponent, and can use techniques such as "dangle snipe" (in which she hangs from a pipe with her legs and snipes an opponent). She could inflict a deathblow on a downed opponent.

Calldowns
Nova has the ability to "call for help"; she has at least six calldowns; Identify, Irradiate, EMP Burst, Arclite (which directs attacks from a powerful siege tank), Yamato Cannon, and the ever-popular nuke.

StarCraft II
Nova appears in the mission "Ghost of a Chance", an alternate to the mission "Breakout".

She demonstrated a number of abilities: Permanent Cloaking, Psionic Radar, Nuke, Snipe, and Domination.

Blizzard DotA
Nova appears as a character in Blizzard DotA. She is a DPS-type hero.

Skills and Powers
"I always liked you. Rich girl growing up in one of the Old Families of the Confederacy, dealt about the worst hand possible of a hostile universe, but you wouldn't go down without a fight. You were a beauty and you had spirit, even down in that Gutter with the hab addicts and crab dealers. I saw it from the beginning, and I guess I was right, because look at you now. The most impressive ghost I've ever seen."

- Malcolm Kelerchian

Nova has a good sense of balance. She underwent physical training at the Ghost Academy. She found it very difficult at first, not being accustomed to exercise, but eventually excelled at martial arts, the use of weapons, and driving a vulture. She was given permission to learn some skills earlier than usual, and undertook the four-year program in only two-and-a-half years; a record.

Nova is a skilled hacker; she can take control of a nuclear silo in only a few minutes.

Nova often instills lust and fear in males around her, her physical appearence driving the former emotion, and her telepathy instilling the latter one.

At fifteen years of age, she was considered to be tall.

Psionic Abilities
Nova has a Psi Index rating of 10 and as such, is one of the most powerful ghosts in existance. She is so powerful that she finds it difficult not to read minds. She can even read minds through some types of psi-screens (such as those worn by the Annihilators) but was unable to read or attack the mind of Fagin while he wore one. Nova has the ability to telepathically communicate, at least with other psychics.

Her abilities first manifested as "empathy" at age seven; her parents hid this from her. On her fifteenth birthday she found she could read one person's mind at close range. A few days later she discovered she could read her family's mind from a considerable distance away.

Nova developed a powerful attack which can destroy the brains of up to a dozen opponents while leaving an individual in their midst unharmed.

Nova's telekinetic abilities can slowly lift her (and others), is powerful enough to uproot shrubs, and she was able to briefly hold up part of a fallen building. She eventually learned to focus these abilities, and has frequently "jammed" firearms with it. She once used the ability to physically force someone to shoot another opponent. She could use her power to fire guns "remotely", open and damage metal doors and destroy combat robots. Her telekinetic abilities can improve her accuracy with firearms, her teeking guiding the bullets to an extent. Unlike other teeks, using telekinesis gives her a headache. The more effort she uses, the worse the pain.

Nova's psionic training at the progressed rapidly, and she found it much easier than the physical aspect.

After her family died, Nova uncontrollably unleashed a massive telepathic and telekinetic blast which damaged the Terra Skyscraper and slew hundreds of people.

Afterward Nova could reliably generate a mind blast with a four-block (or greater) radius, but at the cost of a prolonged charging time.

Personality
"Cold and efficient. Reminds me of someone I used to know."

- Jim Raynor commenting on Nova.

Even through her ghost training (before the memory wipe) Nova's personality generally remained the same throughout her late teen years. She possessed a degree of empathy that was generally lacking in the Old Families (a trait that did not go unnoticed) and believed in the concept of fair play, or at least had an aversion to "cheating" (eg. considered attaching gliders to her shoes at her birthday to walk elegantly to be "cheating").

Although willing to deal death to those she believed to deserve it (e.g. Fagin and Cliff Nadaner), she wanted to avoid harming those who fell outside this definition (she did not want to harm Fagin's associates and regretted having to dispatch the rest of Nadaner's group).

As of becoming a full fledged ghost, after undergoing a memory wipe, Nova's personality has, perhaps not that surprisingly, changed radically. From her interactions in the New Sydney incident, elements of snideness and arrogance can be seen. As per the aims of the Ghost Program, virtually no traces of her previous moral code remain. Additionally, although she underwent a memory wipe, Nova remains psychologically scarred by the murder of her family and has trouble connecting to people as a result. Not that she particularly desired to, however&mdash;for the most part, she was content to be regarded as a merciless killer and remain isolated from her fellow men, not wanting to forge attatchments that could be broken. Kelerchian noted in their Altaran reunion however that she'd become more open from when he'd last seen her.

Nova has, or at least had, a liking for framberries.

Other Appearances
Blizzard Entertainment employees have stated that they definitely want to continue Nova's story, either in novel or comic format. At BlizzCon 2011, Brian T. Kindregan asserted that Nova is an important part of the StarCraft universe, and that she would be appearing in future expansions and stories. She will definitely have a role in Heart of the Swarm and it has been indicated that she will have a role in Legacy of the Void as well.

Nova was expected to appear in StarCraft: Issue 9, trailing the War Pigs, a group of outlaws, for unknown reasons. However, the issue was canceled. The War Pigs will not appear in the StarCraft OGN, but she is still scheduled to appear in the graphic novel.

Nova made early cameos in StarCraft II before the release of the game, seen on a flatscreen in the Hyperion. The images were of gameplay from StarCraft: Ghost.

World of Warcraft Easter Eggs
Nova's tomb had been spotted at a strange stone in the Netherstorm of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade at location 41, 83. Drysc, a Blizzard World of Warcraft Community Manager later stated that "Some say that under certain conditions you can see her ghost... Pun not intended." A cloaked blood elf figure resembling Nova can also be found near the tomb.

Drysc used the lyrics of Kansas song Dust in the Wind to describe her: "Rest in peace Nova... I close my eyes Only for a moment, then the moment's gone All my dreams Pass before my eyes, a curiosity Dust in the wind All they are is dust in the wind...  /tear"

- Drysc

Another blood elf character named Nova can be found in World of Warcraft. She is a child who keeps a pet cat.