The Nova Blades was a gang of pirates that were based on the planet Rishi in the decades before the Galactic War. Originally a loose conglomerate of pirate crews that shared resources, the Blades eventually joined together and began to collaborate tactically, extensively preying on the galaxy's major hyperroutes—to the point where many corporations established a line item known as the "Blade Tax" to account for the expected losses due to the Blades' attacks. The corvette Aggressor was a major part of the Blades' forces, but when the Blades attempted to reach the Rishi Maze dwarf galaxy over a century before the Galactic War, the Aggressor crashed on Rishi, where Ralen Margok spearheaded an effort to turn the wreck into a headquarters.