User blog comment:Hawki/Nova Covert Ops, part 3 - Reflections/@comment-72.197.211.140-20161130055528

I think the reason why Davis didn't release the info with Valerian's recording regarding his father is because such things can be faked. Remember, Raynor already did this in WoL, which weakened Mengsk's rule, but it wasn't enough to force him off the throne. Sure, there's the matter of him taking the credit for the Char invasion, but a part of me couldn't help but wonder if Mengsk tried to convince the public that because what Raynor uploaded was purely voices, it's possible to fake the voices and everything. If the Dominion public bought that, then perhaps Davis felt trying to release such a recording to the public would just have the same effect.

Problem however is that Davis is somewhat a wasted character because we don't really know the full reason for why she did what she did. The picture of her and Mengsk seemed to imply they were good friends, and thus she wanted revenge on Valerian. Prior to mission 3, many speculated that Davis was out for power only, because if Valerian makes the changes to the Dominion, the powers she once held under Arcturus's reign would disappear. But in the end, they never fully explained the reason why Davis did what she did.

For why Alarak didn't just burn Vardona to the ground, maybe this shows that for all his brutality, he still holds true to his bargains. Maybe he knew that Nova was on the planet, and didn't want her to get killed as she was the one who led him there in the first place. If Nova wasn't on the planet, THEN perhaps Alarak would just use the normal purification methods. It's not like there were many Dominion ships in orbit over Vardona to defend against the Tal'darim, especially since no one even expected them to show up (hence the reason why it took Valerian and Horner some time to get the Dominion fleet to the planet).

If Ji'nara is still alive, Alarak is going to have her severely punished for failing all his tests. The "kill" option might not be possible, however, given the shortage of ascendants and everything. After all, the Tal'darim too suffered heavy casualties against Amon in LotV, and they too need time to rebuild. It's possible by the time of NCO, that rebuilding isn't finished.

For Davis fearing the future of the Dominion, it's really hard to say because we don't know how the other terran factions had fared in the war against Amon. Now, if it's regarding outside alien powers, there's no need to bring the Protoss into the picture. There was never an official state of war with the Protoss even under Mengsk's rule, and we just don't know how much the Dominion knows about the Tal'darim. For example, it's possible that the only info the Dominion had about the Tal'darim was those under Nyon that Raynor fought in WoL, which showed them to be just a small band of fanatics. If so, then Davis simply didn't know what she was getting herself into upon attacking the Tal'darim outposts, as she didn't know the Tal'darim faction was actually a lot larger and stronger than she once thought.

For why Nova disobeyed Valerian, I think this may be a personal matter because Davis used her to lure feral zerg to Dominion worlds. She gave Valerian a chance to do it his way, it didn't work, so now she felt she should do it her own way.

This doesn't explain why the Covert Ops crew is loyal to her though. I felt this was something NCO should have explained more. You're commanding people, not mindless drones. If nothing else they should have at least had Reigel tell her before the last mission that they're willing to break Dominion protocol to put Davis down.

For Valerian to let her go, the point is that the threat is gone, and maybe he feels that if he tries to hunt her down, it'll only turn Nova against him and everything. Perhaps it's better to leave her be and let her help the Dominion her own way if and when the time comes. Then, depending on Nova's methods, it would allow him to determine if she's still on the Dominion's side or not.

Overall I felt going from ghost to vigilante could be considered something that was building up since SC Ghost Spectres, when Nova was convinced the Dominion wasn't what she once thought it was, which changed her character. This we could see in WoL as well. No matter who Raynor sided with, it's hinted that he could see Nova isn't like the other Dominion ghosts. Thus it's possible Nova felt for all her loyalties to the Dominion, it just hasn't worked out in benefiting them, or her superiors used methods she felt were a waste, and therefore she decided on her own methods. Granted this jump still happened too quickly, but some clues were already revealed in past SC lore regarding her.