The Nova Blades were a group of pirates operating from the planet of Rishi in the decades leading up to the Galactic War. Initially, they were a disorganized collection of pirate groups sharing resources, but they unified and began collaborating strategically, extensively targeting the major hyperroutes of the galaxy. This became so prevalent that many corporations created a budget item called the "Blade Tax" to cover anticipated losses from the Blades' attacks. The corvette known as the Aggressor was a key asset of the Blades. However, when the group attempted to navigate the Rishi Maze dwarf galaxy more than a century before the Galactic War, the Aggressor crashed on Rishi. Ralen Margok then led the effort to transform the wreckage into their base of operations.
By the time of the Galactic War in 3637 BBY, Dael Margok was leading the Blades, and they had formed an alliance with the Order of Revan. The Order tasked them with conducting hit-and-run attacks on Republic and Imperial patrol routes. The goal was to remap hyperlanes and force both sides' command fleets to Rishi. They also constructed a signal jammer on Rishi to disrupt all communications when the Republic and Imperial fleets arrived, preventing coordination while Revanite saboteurs and the Revanite fleet destroyed them. However, Margok inadvertently angered Shae Vizla's Mandalorian clan, who then refused to support the Revanites' schemes.
In that same year, the Blades faced harassment from a rising pirate gang, resulting in the loss of several weapon caches and a slave camp. Margok directly contacted Revan for assistance, but the Revanite leader declared that the Nova Blades had outlived their usefulness and demanded that Margok eliminate his new rivals before any further alliance discussions. Unbeknownst to both parties, the rival pirate gang was a fabrication orchestrated by Theron Shan, Lana Beniko and Jakarro to undermine the Revanites' plan. With the help of a spacer impersonating the pirate gang's representative, they attacked the Aggressor to retrieve any intelligence the Blades possessed on the Revanites, killing Margok and leaving the remaining Blades without a leader.
In 3627 BBY, the Nova Blades were hired by the Sith Empire to attack the Republic on Dantooine. However, the gang members eventually betrayed the Empire and launched assaults on the assets of both factions.
Lieutenant Yarvok of the Nova Blades took control of the Dantooine Power Station and demanded 15 million credits in exchange for the reactor. Republic and Imperial forces quickly besieged the power station, and a spacer drove off Yarvok and cleared the building of Nova Blades.
The pirates deployed a prototype assault walker that they had stolen from a weapons-testing facility located on Balmorra. A spacer was tasked with destroying the experimental vehicle to prevent it from falling into the hands of either the Republic or the Empire.
Nova Blades conducted slave auctions to sell those captured during their raids. One such auction was guarded by the infamous exoboar named Hugo and was ended by an adventurous spacer.
By 3626 BBY, law had been established on Rishi under the Tribunal. The Nova Blades tried to undermine their efforts and restore Raider's Cove to its status as a pirate hub, but they were stopped by a Feast of Prosperity envoy who sought the support of Tribunal members to establish such a feast on Rishi.