The Nova Corps, also known as the Xandarian Star Corps, is a powerful peace keeping force originally created to defend Xandar, but it eventually expanded its operations to protect the entire Andromeda Galaxy, as well as Earth.
Their greatest strength is the Xandarian World Mind, a sentient super computer that stores the experiences of every Xandalarian that ever existed in the past one million years. Along with the immense information it contains, it also grants Corps members flight and super-strength through a power source known as the Nova Force. Further more, the World Mind’s main function is to lead the Nova Corps, and to provide strategic support to the soldiers. But how could a tremendous force backed by advanced technology get destroyed?
It began at the Crunch Cascade, the ever-expanding edge of the universe that divides positive matter and anti-matter. Located here was the Kyln which is a collection of connected spheres used to harvest energy from the Crunch Cascade. Additionally, it was also used as a maximum-security prison for some of the Galaxy’s most dangerous beings. An over whelming army appeared from anti-matter zone and attacked the Kyln by surprise. They destroyed many beings who were housed there, while simultaneously wiping out power to countless civilizations that relied on the Kyln for energy. This day was known as Annihilation Day.
Seven days later, the Nova Corps prepares for the unknown force heading their way. During their briefing, the Nova Corps’ fleet was attacked and completely destroyed. This was followed by the destruction of the space port shortly after. The attacks had been so swift that Nova Corps had no time to react. The Force, now deemed as the Annihilation Wave, descended down upon Xandar and corrupted the World Mind’s A.I., which left the soldiers without communication and orders.
The Nova Corps only line of defense was now the soldiers who no longer had help from their ships or their most powerful tool, the World Mind. The comic follows the experience of Richard Rider, the first human to reach the rank of Centurion. After the realization that Nova Corps weapons don’t affect the invading force, Rider figures out that they can use the Annihilation Wave’s own weapons against themselves as they would shoot indiscriminately. Other soldiers follow Rider’s plan and begin darting between the invaders in order to bait them into shooting each other.
This worked until the blazing remains of the Space Port began crashing down into Xandar. In a desperate attempt to survive the catastrophic impact, Rider and his companion, Centurion Samaya, began to fly through the descending space port. Their efforts to survive the falling debris proved unsuccessful. Samaya was killed during their ascent and Rider became incapacitated. Rider awoke from the rubble to find that he was the sole survivor of the attack.
He fades in and out of consciousness until 4 days later a voice calls out to him, the Xandarian World Mind. The World Mind grants what little powers it has left to Rider, and it urges Rider to be the host of the World Mind, as only a Nova can carry the Nova Force. The World Mind uploads itself into Rider. Previously, having only wielded a small sliver of the power, now Rider has all the power that was once divided among every Nova Corps man.
The raw power and information that is now stored inside Rider causes him to go into a brief frenzy that causes him to destroy an Annihilation Wave battleship to avenge his fallen comrades. The fury causes him to lose control of the powers, and he falls back to the ruins of Xandar where he encounters two more survivors. Drax the Destroyer, and a young girl named Cammi. Drax and Cammi ask to join up with Rider in order to find a way off of the dying planet. The World Mind desperately attempts to inform Rider that the person he is talking to is a mass murder that should be left behind.
Not willing to let another person die, he disobeys the orders and convinces the World Mind to guide them to the nearest functioning ship. As they approach a ship they encounter scavenging Annihilation insects. Drax slays them, while Rider attempts to avoid conflict in order to not lose control of the tremendous power that the Nova Force is capable of. Drax confronts Rider for not using his abilities to help dispatch the insects. Not wanting to deal with it, Rider tosses his helmet to Drax so that Drax may speak to the World Mind directly. Having gained new insight into the situation that Rider is undergoing, Drax persuades Rider that he shouldn’t fear the power. Drax promises to help Rider control the Nova Force when the time comes.
They board the ship and realize that the entire planet is surrounded by Annihilation Wave forces. They were now faced the task of escaping the planet, but the sheer number of hostile ships above meant that they would be shot down before they manage to leave the planet’s gravitational field. The only solution was to open an unstable Stargate as they fly out of the planet, but in order to succeed Rider must channel the Nova Force. Reluctantly, he agrees to it despite the fear he harbors about losing control again. Drax helps Rider focus his power by telling him he must or else Drax will kill him.
Despite the unorthodoxtactic, the strategy worked, and they ended up 9 light years away from the Annihilation Wave. Rider’s primary objective to save the World Mind was now complete. This means that Nova Corps could be restored in the future with the blueprints and data that the World Mind and Rider contain. As the World Mind puts it, “I am everything the Xandarian Culture has ever been. All its arts, sciences, history, technology, philosophy. I contain a bio-template of the entire race. Organic Xandarian life is extinct. This tragedy will be mourned in time. But as long as I survive, Xandar’s Legacy will endure.”
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