Nova Whisper was a modified Lantillian ShipWrights GX1 Short Hauler with a checkered history and long list of owners. The original owner was a Corellian commodities shipper by the name of Tev Driscull. He soon lost it at Elshandruu Pica to a privateer named Dharus who upgraded the weaponry to have 2 concealed concussion missile launchers and replaced the forward firing laser cannon with an ion cannon. The ship also possessed military-grade sensors and terrain-following scanners in addition to 2 shielded smuggling compartments; one hidden in engineering and the other in the starboard repulsorlift.
The ship soon was captured by the Corellian Security Forces, also known as CorSec, who determined that the Nova Whisper would make an excellent ship for sting operations against smugglers and pirates since it was a legitimate smuggling craft. The ship was used in a joint CorSec-Imperial operation where it was once again stolen, this time by the pilot, Delt Nerris, who was an Alliance sympathizer.
The Nova Whisper was used by the Alliance forces on Asher III as a medical transport until the destruction of that Rebel cell just prior to the Battle of Hoth. The Imperials did not get their hands on the ship as it was filched by a Rodian arms merchant by the name of Lernik De'Yago who used it to escape the raid on the Alliance cell.
De'Yago coded a series of credit-account access numbers into the nav computer. Since De'Yago had lost the shipment of arms he had been delivering to the Alliance before he received payment he decided to recoup his losses. Accordingly he sold the Nova Whisper to a ship dealer on the merchant station Bazaar.
The ship dealer stripped many of the modifications made by De'Yago off the craft and then auctioned it off.