The Nimbus commandos were the elite guards of the Jabiimi Separatist leader Alto Stratus.
They were recruited to be the Separatist equivalent of the Galactic Republic's clone commando units that were wreaking havoc on the Separatists.
A dozen handpicked members served as personal bodyguards for the Commander-in-Chief, with the remainder split into troops with specializations including infiltration, breaching, sniping, explosives disposal, high-speed reconnaissance, and assassination.
- —led by a Commander-in-Chief.
- —Two troops and extra troopers (ranged from 96 to 100 and more troopers).
- —Two platoons (48 troopers).
- —Two squads (24 troopers) led by a Nimbus Lieutenant.
- —Three fire teams (12 troopers) led by a Master Trooper.
- — Four troopers led by a Task Unit Commander.
Only enlisted soldiers in the Jabiim armed forces could apply for the Nimbus program, although highly skilled Loyalist defectors were sometimes accepted into the ranks. The indoctrination was grueling, but successful initiates were welcomed as senior enlisted and received the rank of Nimbus Trooper. They were then assigned to one of the two troops that made up a Nimbus team. Advancement through the ranks could be rapid and chaotic; the battles on Jabiim often saw scores of members of the Nimbus commandos die in a single engagement.
The origins of the Nimbus commandos dated back three thousand years to Jabiim's colonization. The Jabiimi settlers formed a ground army and a small stellar navy in response to incursions by Trandoshan raiders attempting to steal Jabiimi ore stockpiles. Elite divisions within the Jabiimi Army were created to handle the most difficult tasks, and these special forces—consisting of units such as the Black Gauntlets, the D.E.E.P., and the Stone Torrent—eventually become a third military branch. Jabiimi special forces proved instrumental in driving off the Lythian pirates and other threats.
Prior to the Clone Wars, Alto Stratus served as a commander in the Bronze Nimbus, one of several special forces units in the Jabiimi Military assembled during the Trandoshan invasion. When he became disillusioned with the cowardice of the Jabiim Army, he brought Bronze Nimbus into his personal command, drawing elements of the Jabiim Army into his cult of personality. By the time the Clone Wars broke out, now the leader of the Jabiimi Nationalists, Alto Stratus, had consolidated the special forces as the Nimbus commandos.
Prior to the Battle of Jabiim, Stratus took over the ruling Jabiim Congress in a coup. Key members of the Congress were assassinated by the Nimbus commandos, including most of the Loyalist members. They also carried out shadow missions, including kidnapping and data theft, to give Stratus the leverage he needed to blackmail the other councilors into following his orders. Stratus then used his influence to ally Jabiim with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. In order to maintain public order during this time, Stratus had consolidated the regular military, now known as the Nationalist Army. He also had the Nimbus commandos destroy armories and soften up the Jabiimi Loyalists so that the Nationalist Army could engage the Loyalists in battle on an equal footing.
While the Republic forces regrouped at their camp, Alto Stratus gave a powerful speech to rally his Nimbus soldiers that delivered vehemently anti-Republican rhetoric. He cited the past record of Republic apathy during the events such as Brainrot Plague, Trandoshan invasion, and Lythian pirate raids. As the Jedi watched Stratus's speech through the hologram, Captain Orliss Gillmunn explained the situation to the newly-arrived Master Sirrus, including the Nimbus commandos.
During the Battle of Jabiim, these elite soldiers saw action against the Republic clone trooper forces. The Nimbus commandos managed to launch a surprise attack on Shelter Base, destroy an AT-AT. At one point, a HoloNet News Core Edition report on the attack that was transmitted from the Shelter Base managed to confirm that Alto Stratus had an undisclosed number of Nimbus soldiers with him.
On the twenty-eighth day, they crushed General Norcuna's forces in the northern hemisphere, and, by the thirty-fourth da, ambushed a Republic convoy headed for Cobalt Station, and later defeated the Republic forces at Cobalt Station.
Following the Battle of Jabiim, Colonel Mazzi took command of the Nimbus commandos and the Nationalist Army. He allied the unit with the Galactic Empire, aiding Imperial efforts to crush the remaining Jabiimi Loyalists.
The Nimbus commandos were still active after the establishment of the New Republic, with a few going off Jabiim to seek fortune as mercenaries on planets with a similar environment. One such planet was Nal Hutta, where the Hutt clan Gejalli was rumored to keep more than a dozen members of the Nimbus commandos on retainer.
Their signature piece of gear, the repulsorlift skate, allowed its members to skim three meters above land or water at speeds of up to ninety-five kilometers per hour. Using skates, commandos in squads of three could penetrate enemy lines and reach heavy equipment, which they destroyed with timed charges or grenades. The Nimbus commandos often employed minefields, since the skates' repulsor field allowed a wearer to glide over a live mine without triggering it.
A Nimbus unit carried a great deal of equipment into the field crammed into belts and backpacks. This gear included explosive charges, ammunition, nonperishable rations, waterproofing spray, thermal warming units, and low-altitude communications boosters. The commandos were expert survivalists and skilled with edged weapons including swords, daggers, and machetes.
During the Clone Wars, the Nimbus commandos adopted the Separatist commando blaster rifle, a weapon capable of both long-range sniping and semiautomatic rapid fire as well as of launching concussive sonic blasts. Another Clone Wars introduction, the A-series assassin droid, worked alongside members of the Nimbus commandos and used blasters, flechette launchers, and cutting blades to damage organics. Many A-Series units continued to serve the Nimbus commandos throughout the New Republic era and beyond.