Nova Cassidy

Biography
Nova Cassidy was born within Federation space, though has never held any allegiance to the federation. Her childhood and adolescence was mostly unremarkable up until her early twenties, at which point she found work on a civilian outpost as a bartender. During her time as a bartender, she was exposed to all of the good and bad that mankind has to offer in a person. She met countless miners, traders, enforcers, soldiers, civilians, bounty hunters, and pirates. Thanks to the latter, there were many people she never saw more than a couple of times. Space is a very dangerous place.

At some point in her career, Nova became dissatisfied and depressed with her life. Pouring drinks for years, getting leered at and hit on day in and day out for low pay just to pay rent on a tiny, cheap flat and food cartridges, only ever being allowed luxury thanks to a generous tip from a Pilot riding on the high of a good day's business. She had seen countless holo-vids and recruitment commercials about the pilots federation. Normally, she would shrug them off. Everything looks better on TV. But, on the edge of an existential crisis when made to choose between going back to work and risking it with the Pilot's Fed, Nova signed up.

Nova was willing to give up all of what little she had to become a Pilot, even going as far as getting implants so she would meet the minimum requirement for her vision in order to pass the tests. When accepted, she trained and studied hard. She still regards the day she was given her licence as one of the best days of her life, and the first day of her new life. She changed her name, and dyed her hair.

From that point on, Nova became a trader. It was simple, easy work that managed to still somehow pay well. All she needed to do was pick up some stuff from one station, and take it to another. It was hardly exciting, but Nova was still overjoyed just to be flying in space, and not pouring another drink. In a week, Nova had made more credits than she could have hoped to in several months of her old job.

However, the universe had other plans. Nova wasn't destined to be a trader. On one of her last trading runs, she found herself ripped out of supercruise, interdicted by one of the countless outlaws stalking traders through space. She was no stranger to pirates. She had seen what they leave in their wake all her life. Fathers would go out to work, and never return, leaving behind a broken family. Happy, good hearted men became soulless, cold and bitter after losing everything. Friends would go missing, only to show up in the obituaries. Hard working independent miners would go homeless, forced to sell their ships because pirates stole everything they had. Wives widowed. Children orphaned. Good people killed by the evil for profit and sport. Whether she saw it on TV, or witnessed the effects in real life, the effect was the same. Nova hated pirates.

When ordered to give up everything she had, something snapped in Nova. Panic and fear turned into rage and hatred. Instead of opening the cargo hatch, Nova deployed her hardpoints. From that point on, she was a Reaper.

Personality
Generally speaking, Nova is a friendly person. She's got a good heart, and a desire to leave things better than she found them. Though often impulsive, Nova could be described as something of a charming rogue, with a smile for almost everyone. An independent bounty hunter in space doesn't typically have many friends. The few she does have Nova would be willing to go to hell and back for.

While usually understanding and down to earth, Nova changes completely when she feels like there has been an injustice, to the point of leaving reason behind in an effort to right what has been wronged.

Nova is often unable or unwilling to see the big picture, or give much thought to the consequences of her actions, instead only seeing as far as what she believes must be done or is the right thing to do at the time. On more than one occasion, this has left her in hot water, going as far as to attempt an assassination on a member of the Imperial Inquisition to right what she perceived to be an egregious wrongdoing, and only thinking of the consequences once it was too late.

It's this incredibly strong sense of justice and her own moral compass that drives her to do things one who only knows her socially wouldn't think of. In the face of what she perceives as evil, Nova can become incredibly vindictive, driven by anger and determination to snuff it out. A trait that may ultimately prove to be her downfall, unable to let an injustice slide. Her actions can be considered cruel, though she would consider them justice being done. To fight fire with fire. When she gets like this, Nova can become a very scary and intimidating person, only to return to being fine soon after.

Perhaps Nova is not the most stable of people.

Current Ships

 * Python - Snowbird

Sold/Destroyed Ships

 * Asp Explorer - Bluebird (Destroyed in Judges)

Notes and Trivia

 * Nova Cassidy is not her real name, and blue is obviously not her natural hair color.
 * While Nova is easily able to afford a more subtle bionic eye, she actually prefers the red one based purely on it's intimidation factor.
 * Excluding any metal issues, Nova's history doesn't fully explain her hatred of criminals. Maybe there's more to it than she says.
 * A picture of Nova more canon to her actual appearance http://i.imgur.com/OJBigcW.jpg
 * Nova's Inara profile, from her own perspective. http://inara.cz/cmdr-logbook/12887/4699