Nova Stihl

Sergent Nova Stihl was one of the protagonists of the Star Wars Legends novel Death Star.
He was a Force sensitive individual, with a midichlorian count of over 5,000. However he was never identified as a Force sensitive by the Jedi Order or the Sith. 
Joining the Galactic Empire's army, he became a Teräs Käsi practitioner - which was an unarmed style of combat. He was assigned to the garrison overseeing the prison complex on Despayre, which was laboring to build the first Death Star in orbit above. Forming a friendship of sorts with Celot Ratua Dil, Stihl held classes for the political prisoners who were often weaker and needed to survive the harsh environment of the prison - including from local predators and people sent to the prison for actual crimes.
During his tenure on Despayre, Stihl helped bring down the number of violent incidents, doing so well that his superiors transferred him up to the Death Star. He started a Teräs Käsi class, meeting pilot Vil Dance. Stihl began hanging out at the Hard Heart Cantina's. After laying out a man who attacked him, he met the bouncer Rodo - who was also a Teräs Käsi master. The two became friends and spent some time sparring with each other. He met some of the other regulars at the cantina, which included Teela Kaarz, bar owner Memah Roothes, and Atour Riten.
While stationed on the Death Star he began experiencing nightmares and other physical symptoms due to his sensitivity to the Force. He reported to medical to get checked out and Dr. Kornell Divini examined him. Divini found him to be in good shape but also found the high midi-chlorian counts.
Once construction wrapped up on the Death Star, Grand Moff Tarkin ordered the superlaser tested on Despayre. The deaths of so many life forms caused a tremor in the Force, which roused Stihl from a sound sleep. Going to the Hard Heart he found that Celot had managed to smuggle himself up to the station but after seeing what evil the Empire had done did not turn him in. 
A few days later Tarkin had the Death Star destroy the peaceful planet of Alderaan. At the time the superlaser was fired Stihl was taking a shower to help him relax. The disturbance in the Force (which Obi-Wan Kenobi felt from light years away) caused Stihl to pass out and he didn't awaken for about half an hour. When he came to he found himself laying on the shower stall floor with the sonic shower still going. 
Stihl was one of the guards present in the overbridge complex conference room when Tarkin and Darth Vader received word that Dantoonine at one time had a rebel base but it had been deserted some time ago. Watching the two men talk about that and a freighter that had just been captured, Stihl decided that this would be his last tour in the Imperial Army, and that after he left he would seriously consider fighting the evil that was the Empire.
When Han Solo and Luke Skywalker broke Princess Leia out of detention block AA-23, Stihl was one of the troopers assigned to track them down. Chasing what to him appeared to be a down on his luck spacer, the group of troopers was stopped when control technicians tried to lower a blast door to trap that spacer. Able to hide what he was doing with the others, Stihl pretended that the door controls were not functional and called the control room to tell them they needed to open the door. When the control room tech protested Stihl insisted the door was not working and the tech was allowing prisoners to escape. The control room overrode the doors so that the chase could continue, but Stihl's delaying actions bought the spacer - Captain Han Solo - and his Wookie first mate Chewbacca time to escape back to their ship. 
Meanwhile Stihl and his friends began making plans to escape from the Death Star. When it came time to leave the group made their way to a medical shuttle but access was blocked by a group of stormtroopers. Stihl and Rodo began fighting with the stormtroopers. While they both died, Stihl and Rodo's sacrifice enabled their friends to escape the Death Star.
==Trivia==
* Prior to the novel and its new characters being relegated to the Legends continuity Stihl was considered to be one of the two guards in the second conference room scene in A New Hope. With the new canon, the guard is now unidentified. 
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