The Essential Guide to Force Exile/Novera

Novera was a Hapan woman born several years before the Yuuzhan Vong War to a family of nobility. When she was a little girl and presented before the Queen of Hapes, Teneniel Djo, the queen recognized Novera's Force-sensitivity and quietly told her parents about it. Like most Hapans, her parents had a distrust of the Jedi, but the idea of their daughter having special powers intrigued them. They agreed to have Novera attend a special school ostensibly for grooming potential handmaidens and attendants for the queen. In fact, it was a preparatory school for Jedi training.

When she was nine, in 30 ABY, the Yuuzhan Vong invasion threatened Hapes. For her safety, Novera and eight other Hapan Force-sensitive girls were sent with a Jedi Knight named Sarna to the Maw Installation for safety. However, en route, they were intercepted by a small ship piloted by a Dark Jedi named Ariada Cerulaen and her adviser, Aspra Serpaddis. Ariada slew Sarna and took the girls into her care. She told them that Jedi had been corrupted and were infiltrating the government, having fallen to the dark side. The girls were eventually indoctrinated to believe her. In return, she turned them to the dark side and trained them as her personal assassins. The girls were given special training and tools in addition to cybernetic implants and augmentations to increase their combat effectiveness. Those years were hard and difficult for Novera and the other girls, but Ariada did her best to care for them even amidst strenuous and painful circumstances.

In 38 ABY, Ariada struck. She sent her assassins to target individuals who might threaten her plans, such as experts in genetics, biology, droid technology, and stealth systems. Novera, now known by a new name, Emerald, did as she was instructed, coldly carrying out Ariada's orders and terminating targets even at the tender age of sixteen. When Ariada struck at Coruscant, Emerald helped extract her master from a Galactic Alliance prison, where she had voluntarily allowed herself to be taken in order to demonstrate her ability to escape. Though Ariada also employed the horrifying technobeast virus in some of her attacks, the assassins were unaware of the true nature of her terrorism. When the Yanibar Guard pursued Ariada on Coruscant, Ariada decided to strike back. She and her assassins confronted the Force exiles at a hangar where they had stored their ship, the Hawk-bat. They slew two Yanibar Guard soldiers and escaped, leaving behind four advanced combat droids to fight the Force exiles.

Ariada withdrew her ship to Belsavis, attempting to pick off a Jedi Knight named Jaina Solo, who had been shot down earlier by Ariada's forces, but was again stymied by the Yanibar Guard. She then decided to resume striking at her previous targets. Novera was sent to attack Tendrando Arms, a defense firm with close ties to the Jedi. Her mission would start by an assassination attempt on Lando Calrissian, the company's head. However, the Yanibar Guard had anticipated this possibility and sent Milya Tayrce Kraen, a Force-using Elite Guardian, and her Jedi companion, Tyria Sarkin Tainer, to protect Calrissian.

When they arrived on Almania, Milya contacted Lando Calrissian, the head of Tendrando Arms, and used him as bait to lure out the assassin. Milya intercepted Emerald and the two fought a brutal rooftop battle before Milya seized the upper hand, throwing her adversary off. Emerald landed unconscious and badly injured, while Milya had also been wounded. Calrissian's private security entourage took them to a secluded retreat where Emerald was kept confined and Milya's wounds were treated. The hospitality was courtesy of a grateful Calrissian. Eventually, Tyria joined them, irked that she had been left out of the action by Milya. Tyria attempted to interrogate Emerald while Milya recovered, but was unsuccessful.

As Emerald had cut off long-range communications from Almania, it was up to Milya to make something happen with the interrogation, as Emerald was quietly defiant, confident that Ariada would rescue her. She made little progress until communications were restored and Tyria was able to discover Emerald's true name and background. Milya revealed to Emerald that all of Ariada's training and surgical alterations had been designed to use her, to deceive her. Emerald was initially resistant to the idea that Ariada had been lying to her for years, but Milya allowed Emerald to sense her sincerity in the Force and faced with the evidence, her defiance eventually crumbled. Thanks to her own background, Milya could relate, and eventually the young woman broke down and angrily renounced Ariada, furious at the betrayal. She also reclaimed her given name of Novera. Having earned some of Milya's trust but still a prisoner, Novera was taken to the Yanibar Guard cruiser Daara'sherum by Milya and Tyria.

There, she helped provide intelligence on Ariada's ship, a cruiser called the Knightfall, weapons, assets, and plans. Novera then asked Milya to accompany the boarding action they were planning against the Knightfall, where the Yanibar Guard hoped to retrieve a pair of prisoners, disable the ship, and stop Ariada from detonating four bombs that had been planted on Bespin and Coruscant. Milya asked her husband and the leader of the Yanibar Guard, Selu Kraen, who was initially reluctant. However, after talking with Novera and learning of the depth of Ariada's betrayal as well as seeing her resolve to stop her former master, he relented, with certain precautions in place.

Ariada confronted Selu, Milya, Novera, and the others, at the cell of Ryion Kraen, Selu and Milya's son, whom Ariada had captured. Novera seemingly betrayed the Force exiles, but after disarming Selu and the others, she slipped a grenade to Ryion and then turned on Ariada, killing both of the Force-blocking ysalamiri in Ryion's cell. In the ensuing fray, Ariada slashed out at Novera, severely wounding her, but the two assassins with her were incapacitated, and she barely escaped. Ryion was freed and went on to free the other prisoners, resulting in the death of several more assassins and Ariada's Dark Jedi advisor. Novera was left where she fell, attended by Akleyn Kraen, a capable surgeon. Meanwhile, Selu and Milya decided to pursue Ariada and deal with the weapons from a different route.

With her last breaths, Ariada refused to help them disarm her bombs, leaving them to figure out how to do so on their own. However, she did maliciously warn them that the same process which would self-destruct the bombs would also set off a fourth charge in the inner sanctum, making the disarmament a suicide mission. Selu and Milya were undeterred. They ordered the rest of their party to escape the doomed ship and managed to override Ariada's security systems. They perished when they disarmed the bombs and Ariada's dark ship, the Knightfall, plunged down to crash into Mustafar.

Novera was taken to the Daara'sherum to recover and have her wounds treated. In exchange for her help, her record was expunged and she was given a fresh start with the rest of the Force exiles, who were leaving Yanibar for a legendary paradise world called Atlaradis. She attended a memorial service held over Yanibar for Selu, Milya, and the others that had fallen stopping Ariada, and then departed for Atlaradis with the rest of Yanibar's Force exiles.

Behind the scenes
Novera was conceived for Force Exile VI: Prodigal as one of Ariada's assassins who would later be redeemed by Milya. In that sense, given her background, she serves as a foil for Milya. Author Atarumaster88 crafted the assassin's character to be similar to what Milya might have become if she had been enlisted at a young age, a devoted, fierce combatant. Their similarities allowed Milya both to understand Novera and get through to her, as well as cut through the lies and justifications she had received from Ariada. While the two certainly fought physically, Atarumaster88 wanted the conflict to also be a battle for truth and not simply a physical fight, so much of their conflict was written as dialogue rather than simply combat. The equipment and training of Ariada's assassins, as well as their background of being forcibly taken into service and brainwashed is reminiscent of the Ghost Program from the Starcraft universe, specifically the characters of Sarah Kerrigan and November Terra. Originally, Atarumaster88 planned to use an image of November Terra for Emerald, but decided to make her a redhead instead.

Appearances

 * Force Exile VI: Prodigal