A female zardimallo, named Ruby, held significant value in the early days of the Galactic Empire following its formation. The Rhokai gang committed theft of her, motivated by the lizard's high worth. Subsequently, the Devaronian criminal, Roland Durand, engaged Cid, an information broker, tasking them with delivering Ruby. Cid then contracted the Bad Batch, a unit of former clone commandos, to retrieve Ruby from the Rhokai. During Ruby's theft, Omega, a young clone, named her Ruby, a name that Durand kept after acquiring her.
During the early Imperial Era, Ruby, a female lizard from the rare zardimallo species, was considered highly valuable. Roland Durand, a Devaronian criminal and client of Cid, a Trandoshan information broker, sought to obtain Ruby and compensated Cid to secure and deliver the lizard to him. Cid deployed the clones of Clone Force 99 (known as "The Bad Batch") to steal Ruby from the Rhokai gang, who had previously stolen her. The Rhokai pursued the clones' starship, the Marauder, through space. However, the clone commandos successfully escaped into hyperspace with Ruby and delivered her to Cid. Durand received Ruby, kept her as a pet, and continued to call her Ruby.
Later, Durand seized control of Cid's parlor, ousting Cid and bringing Ruby with him. Bolo and Ketch, regular patrons of Cid's, kidnapped Ruby to draw Durand and his henchman away from Cid's parlor. This allowed Cid and the Bad Batch to steal six crates of spice that Durand intended to sell to the Pyke Syndicate. Durand, deeply attached to Ruby, frequently petted her and rubbed her belly, leading him to threaten to kill her kidnappers.
Subsequently, Cid and the Bad Batch returned to Cid's Parlor, anticipating that the Pykes would have dealt with Durand by then. While this was largely true, Durand revealed to the Pykes that the clones and Cid were the actual thieves of the spice. Consequently, the Pykes took Omega, the child clone, hostage and dispatched Cid and the other clones to retrieve the stolen spice. While imprisoned next to Durand, Omega formed a connection with the Devaronian, noting Ruby's affection for both of them.
Despite Durand's betrayal of the Bad Batch and Cid, Omega defended the Devaronian because Ruby seemed to like him, leading Omega to believe that Durand was not "all bad."
Ruby's initial appearance was in "Battle Scars," an episode of the Star Wars: The Bad Batch web television show, an original production of Disney+. This episode was made available for streaming on June 11, 2021.