Alto Stratus and Nimbus Commandos Respect Thread

[Darth Durin's Baneling]

Alto Stratus was the native leader of the Confederacy forces on Jabiim. The difficulties experienced by the Jedi on that planet were largely thanks to his charisma, cunning, and iron willpower.

He led his forces from the front, and was backed by a team of elite soldiers known as the Nimbus commandos.

He's a non Force sensitive who goes around cutting off Jedi Masters' heads with a sword. Respect him!

The Republic would have its people believe their enemies are heartless droids. We are not droids. We are farmers and menders, builders and healers. We are fathers, brothers, mothers, and sisters who have been forced to take up arms to challenge a selfish and corrupt government.

The emotionless cultists of the Jedi order and their vat-grown drones are fighting a widowless war. We fight for our lifeblood, our heritage, and our soil.

Your planet, your home, is flooded with blood. For three thousand years, we were loyal to the Republic. But did they send aid during the Brainrot Plague? Did they react when the Trandoshans invaded? Where were the Jedi when Lythian Pirates killed your parents and mine?

The Republic ignored our cries for help until they learned that beneath all the mud our planet has a heart of ore! Now they want to control the ore, to prevent us from profiting from trade with the Confederacy of Independent Systems!

We will let the Jedi generals know that we will fight to be free! We will fight to defend our planet! We will send the Jedi home in caskets!

Combat

Alto Stratus is deadly.

The Nimbus commandos are given a Cost of 10, 20 Hit Points, 15 Damage, +5 Attack, and 20 Damage, as well as a Stealth ability that makes them difficult to target when they have cover.

The Nimbus commandos were founded after long traditions of elite Jabiimi fighting forces, and were extremely dangerous. They are not as skilled in urban environments, but are an "ultimate," "unbeatable" force when it comes to swamp environments, and are coveted mercenaries for that reason. Stratus's personal guard are handpicked members of the larger unit.

The Nimbus commandos are excellent survivalists, and are very well equipped with weaponry, explosives, and other tools.

The Nimbus commandos use repulsor boots to great effect against the Republic forces, despite the difficulty in learning to use that technology.

Unfortunately, the Republic ran into trouble almost immediately, and it wasn’t the mud. Alto Stratus and his elite Nimbus commandos employed native technology like repulsor boots to skate above the quagmire that passed for a surface. It took weeks for the Republic to score a major victory at Camp Aurek. After that, their successes seemed to come quickly–Point Dawn and Outpost Shear fell within days. But the Republic’s forward march was taking them farther and farther from their main HQ, Shelter Base, precisely as Alto Stratus had intended.

The Jabiimites, having lived amidst the rain and mud, were much better suited for combat. Alto Stratus' elite guards, the Nimbus, wore specialized repulsorlift skates that allow them to glide across the molasses-like mud. This gave them a considerable edge in the combat that followed.

The Nimbus commandos were used to assassinate the Republic loyalists in Jabiim's Congress.

The Nimbus commandos are elite, and a major reason that the Jedi have proven unsuccessful in their attempts to capture Alto Stratus.

Partial holographic feeds have confirmed that Alto Stratus, the local Separatist leader, personally led the attack. In addition to battle droid infantry, Stratus led an undisclosed number of elite Nimbus soldiers into the assault.

The Jabiimites, having lived amidst the rain and mud, were much better suited for combat. Alto Stratus' elite guards, the Nimbus, wore specialized repulsorlift skates that allow them to glide across the molasses-like mud. This gave them a considerable edge in the combat that followed.

The Nimbus commandos prove "especially lethal", outmatching the clones and Jedi in the swamps, taking down AT-ATs and eliminating Jedi.

Alto Stratus personally kills a Jedi Master, taking her off guard as she attempts to move an AT-TE with the Force.

Alto briefly engages Anakin Skywalker in single combat, blocking his initial strike and slamming him in the face with his shield.

Obi-Wan warns Alpha and the other clones to not allow the Nimbus commandos to flank them. The Nimbus commandos outmaneuver an AT-AT and cripple it with explosives. A second, delayed round eliminates the troopers inside and Jedi Master Sirrus, and badly wounds Obi-Wan Kenobi and Alpha, who are presumed dead.

Alto Stratus and the Nimbus commandos wipe out General Norcuna's AT-ATs and clone troopers. Alto beats and beheads the Jedi General.

Alto and the Nimbus commandos lead the charge against the Padawan Pack's forces, shooting down clone troopers.

Alto once again comes face-to-face against Anakin, but they are separated by a mine that detonates in between them. Alto survives without major injury.

Jedi Padawan Zule Xiss draws on the dark side to help her battle the Nimbus commandos, and falls in combat against them when an AT-AT walker collapses on them.

After three days of battle with no sleep, Alto Stratus chooses to engage Jedi Padawans Mak Lotor and Kass Tod. He pierces Mak's defenses to stab him in the shoulder, but loses his leg to Kass as he does so.

Aubrie Wyn, a prodigious Jedi Padawan slated for training with Mace Windu and said to be destined for a spot on the Council, moves in for the kill against Alto Stratus, who is missing a leg. Alto manages to draw his blaster quick enough to killing her even as she runs him through with her lightsabers.

The Nimbus commandos proved more effective than the Empire's stormtroopers at quelling resistance.

Tactics

The Republic committed a great amount of Jedi (at least 27, "many" of them Masters), soldiers (a full corps, or 36,864 clone troopers), and armored vehicles (hundreds of walkers), including the new AT-AT.

On Handooine, the amassed fighting forces wait patiently for the order to strike. With the arrival of the Dominance and its troops, an entire corps awaits deployment to Jabiim. Given the inhospitabe climate, much of the vehicular support of the Jabiim initiative consists of walker vehicles. Hundreds of AT-XTs, AT-TEs, and AT-AT walkers are being carefully prepared and maintained for deployment at a moment's notice.

The Jedi Council has not announced which generals will be assigned to the campaign.

Rain fell around the clock on Jabiim. The world was a mess, too stormy for atmospheric flight and too muddy for most heavy equipment. Nevertheless, the Republic chose Jabiim to be a field test for its newest walker, the All Terrain Armored Transport, or AT-AT. These four-legged behemoths packed enough firepower to decimate any Separatist AAT or spider droid. Combined with six-legged AT-TEs and two-legged AT-XTs, the Republic battle line appeared unstoppable.

Alto Stratus leverages his knowledge of the planet's environment to outmaneuver the Republic's forces.

BLOOD AND FIRE

Located in the Outer Rim, Jabiim was a dismal, wet and dreary world. At the beginning of the Clone Wars, the planet was allied to the Republic. Then a bloody coup, led by one Alto Stratus, led to a political realignment. Republic loyalists in Jabiim’s congress were killed, and Status began to back the Confederacy. For almost a year, opposition to Stratus was led by a Captain Gillmunn, but with negligible resources, and thus it was a weak and febrile resistance.

The arrival of Republic forces changed this, but the Battle of Jabiim was not going to be won easily. With an unstable atmosphere and almost constant rainfall, the planet’s surface was difficult to reach from orbit. Once the initial Republic landing force had established itself, it was almost immediately cut off from supplies and reinforcements. What was more, their opponents knew the planet’s surface well and understood how to use the atmospheric conditions for their own benefit. It was to be a bloody confrontation and the losses – on all sides – were bound to be enormous.

Although at the beginning of the Clone Wars, the planet had been loyal to the Republic, a political coup, led by one Alto Stratus, had led to the overthrow of the Republic loyalists and a realignment with the Confederacy. Those Republic supporters who remained in the planet’s congress were killed, so that the only opposition to Stratus was led by a single individual – Captain Gillmunn.

Fifteen months on from the Battle of Geonosis, the Republic agreed to come to Gillmunn’s aid, sending down a host of clone troopers and Jedi to overthrow Stratus. Unfortunately, they did not take sufficient account of the planet’s weather patterns. So turbulent was its atmosphere that troops and supplies could only land or disembark during very narrow and unpredictable windows of time. What was more, Stratus was able to use his knowledge of the planet to his advantage in battle.

CONFEDERACY LEADER: The Separatists on Jabiim were led by the charismatic Alto Stratus. He used his knowledge of the planet to his advantage and caused havoc among the Jedi.

Unfortunately, the Republic ran into trouble almost immediately, and it wasn’t the mud. Alto Stratus and his elite Nimbus commandos employed native technology like repulsor boots to skate above the quagmire that passed for a surface. It took weeks for the Republic to score a major victory at Camp Aurek. After that, their successes seemed to come quickly–Point Dawn and Outpost Shear fell within days. But the Republic’s forward march was taking them farther and farther from their main HQ, Shelter Base, precisely as Alto Stratus had intended.

Alto Stratus takes advantage of the ever-changing weather to time his push against Shelter Base, intentionally baiting Republic forces away from it and concealing the extent of his resources in preparation. The attack sees the capture of Obi-Wan Kenobi and the deaths of the Jedi Sirrus, Dalnus Cam, Sana-Jis Ilowa, and Rallcema Bylissura.

SHELTER BASE, JABIIM--A sudden attack by Separatist-backed local forces ravaged the Republic's Shelter Base in the second week of open hostilities on the Outer Rim world of Jabiim, resulting in dozens of casualties and the possible loss of theater commander General Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The attack comes after a string of successful Republic pushes that took three Separatist defensive positions--Camp Aurek, Point Dawn, and Outpost Shear. These advancements weakened Shelter Base's defenses, as Repubic troops were moved farther from headquarters to secure the outlying Jabiimite posts.

Intelligence reports failed to detect the Confederacy military equipment, and up until the attack, no hard evidence of a Confederacy presence had been found. The Jabiimite Separatists were employing native soldiers and equipment. Throguhout the Jabiim engagement, long-range orbital scanning has been hampered by atmospheric disturbances, resulting in incomplete intelligence.

Under the cover of a night storm, Confederacy hailfire droids unleashed volleys of tanksmasher missiles into the compound. The initial assault claimed 32 clones, all from the 43rd "Killer-Aiwha" Battalion, and there are three confirmed Jedi deaths: Dalnus Cam, Sana-Jis Ilowa, and Rallcema Bylissura.

Atmospheric disturbances prevented the use of gunship air support, and Jabiim's muddy surfaces hampered the effectiveness of the Republic AT-ATs, AT-TEs, and other armor.

Partial holographic feeds have confirmed that Alto Stratus, the local Separatist leader, personally led the attack. In addition to battle droid infantry, Stratus led an undisclosed number of elite Nimbus soldiers into the assault.

These same feeds have confirmed General Kenobi's presence during the attack, but contact with Jabiim has been lost, and Kenobi has yet to check in as per schedule. The Jedi Council has refrained from comment regarding speculation that the theater commander might be amkong the dead.

As of this report, the fighting continues at Shelter Base. Contact has currently been lost with HNN field correspondent Angus Laride and Habiimite Loyalist Front spokesbeing Orliss Gillmunn. Stay tuned to this feed for live updates.

Unfortunately, the Republic ran into trouble almost immediately, and it wasn’t the mud. Alto Stratus and his elite Nimbus commandos employed native technology like repulsor boots to skate above the quagmire that passed for a surface. It took weeks for the Republic to score a major victory at Camp Aurek. After that, their successes seemed to come quickly–Point Dawn and Outpost Shear fell within days. But the Republic’s forward march was taking them farther and farther from their main HQ, Shelter Base, precisely as Alto Stratus had intended.

In a brutal raid, Stratus’s hailfire droids pummeled Shelter Base and killed hundreds. General Obi-Wan Kenobi and the ARC trooper Alpha were believed to be among the dead. Unknown to their fellow soldiers, the two survived, only to become prisoners of Commander Asajj Ventress.

Supplied with armor and combat droids by the Confederacy, the Jabiimites were able to destroy the Republic's Shelter Base in the second week of hostilities. General Obi-Wan Kenobi was, for a time, believed to be killed in the attack. His apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, had to lead a group of similarly "orphaned" Padawans in an attack against the Jabiimites.

28 days into the 43 day conflict, 18 Jedi (including several masters) and 9,000 clone troopers have been killed in the war. Alto Stratus's tactics have the Jedi on the retreat in most of the planet's northern hemisphere. The Republic's only hope is to assassinate him.

Now Masterless, Anakin received a transfer to the “Padawan Pack,” a group of orphaned apprentices bunched together in the hope that several Padawans would be equal to one Jedi Knight. With Obi-Wan’s disappearance, the Jabiim campaign fell to General Leska, who moved her surviving troops to the Razor Coast in an effort to kill Alto Stratus.

Alto uses mines to trap the Padawan Pack and their supporting clone troopers, destroying much of their equipment and nearly killing several of the Jedi. By doing this, he keeps General Leska's forces guessing at his location, and puts his forces in position to destroy Cobalt Station.

Spoiler:

The situation for Cobalt Station is so dire that Palpatine intercedes to get Anakin out of the way before the battle takes place. Despite the best efforts of the Padawan Pack, they are slaughtered one by one, and the Separatist advance continues.

Spoiler:

The Battle of Jabiim dragged into its second month. Alto Stratus had a new target in mind–reinforced with fresh battle droids, he marched against the Republic’s Cobalt Station with an army ten thousand strong.

General Leska perished in the offensive, and Republic High Command had no choice but to order a full evacuation. Staging from Cobalt Station, they fell one by one in a last stand against overwhelming odds. Anakin, however, wasn’t with them. Ordered by Chancellor Palpatine to assist with the evacuation, the Chosen One was kept safely away from the grinder that soon claimed the lives of every member of the pack.

The Battle of Jabiim ends with a full retreat off the planet's surface. Any Republic forces left on Jabiim are doomed.

Following an improvement in atmospheric conditions, evacuation became a very real prospect. However, given the state of Republic forces, it quickly became apparent that the Padawans would have to sacrifice themselves for the evacuation to be successful. All agreed to this, until Anakin received a communication from Chancellor Palpatine, instructing him to manage the evacuation personally.

Under pressure from the other Jedi he agreed, and was forced to effect a costly withdrawal while they were cut down one after another. It was only later that Anakin learned that Obi-Wan had actually managed to survive the destruction of the AT-AT.

General Leska perished in the offensive, and Republic High Command had no choice but to order a full evacuation. Staging from Cobalt Station, they fell one by one in a last stand against overwhelming odds. Anakin, however, wasn’t with them. Ordered by Chancellor Palpatine to assist with the evacuation, the Chosen One was kept safely away from the grinder that soon claimed the lives of every member of the pack.

The evac transports didn’t have room to carry the native Jabiimi loyalist fighters. They were left to face certain execution at the hands of Stratus’s conquerors. Any Jedi wounded in the Battle of Jabiim went to the medical planet New Holstice for treatment, while Anakin received temporary orders to pair with Jedi Knight A’Sharad Hett on a mission to Aargonar.

The Battle of Jabiim was one of the bloodiest of the war, notorious for the number of Jedi Masters killed as it ran its course.

A great many of the Clone War battles were gruesome. However, few were as horrifying as the violent struggle that took place on Jabiim

JEDI SLAUGHTER

Over the years the Battle of Jabiim has become notorious for the number of Jedi Masters that were slain. Early on in the conflict it was believed that Obi-Wan Kenobi was one of their number. After a Republic AT-AT was brought down, Kenobi raced inside to save the troops trapped inside. However, before he could get out himself, the vehicle exploded.

The Battle of Jabiim had a traumatic impact on its only two known Jedi survivors, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.

The personal cost to Anakin was to be particularly great. In an early skirmish, one of the Republic’s AT-ATs was felled. While Obi-Wan worked to evacuate the clone troopers trapped inside, the vehicle suddenly exploded. It was presumed that Kenobi was killed in the inferno.

ANAKIN’S COMMAND

In the following disastrous weeks, nearly all the Jedi were killed. Anakin saw innumerable friends hewn down, and very soon he had become just one of a handful of Padawans fighting a rearguard action.

Time and again, his tactical genius and grasp of the Force enabled the Padawans to survive against overwhelming odds. However, without the balancing influence of his Master, Anakin’s mind became increasingly chaotic. By the time the struggle was finally over, deep emotional scars had been seared into his mind. Although he eventually learned that Obi-Wan had survived the AT-AT’s destruction, Anakin’s personal wounds were profound and would never heal.

EVOLUTION

For the remainder of the war, Obi-Wan and Anakin’s relationship went into a relentless decline as Anakin fell closer to the dark side and the Jedi themselves were almost totally destroyed.

MISSING, PRESUMED DEAD: The Battle of Jabiim was the scene of horrific slaughter. It was enough to shake the foundations of many Jedi, even Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. At the height of the fighting, he was presumed killed in action.

DARK BATTLE

The Battle of Jabiim was only going to increase the pressure. The trauma of this weeks-long campaign was to place more stress on Anakin than he had ever experienced. A distant world in the Outer Rim, Jabiim was a wet and dreary planet where rain was one of the few constants of daily life.

Like so many other Jedi, Anakin was forced to join the so-called Padawan pack. He used his tactical brilliance, together with his leadership abilities, to defend his fellow Padawans time and again. This was not without a price. As the battle continued Anakin’s arrogance became more pronounced and his mind more chaotic and less focused.

HIDDEN HURT

Tragically for the galaxy, the emotional wounds from this conflict ran deep in Anakin. He had been separated from his wife and his Master for a long time and without Obi-Wan’s influence he had become even less predictable. This time the scars of battle would not heal. The dark side, never far from the surface of Anakin’s psyche, was now frighteningly tangible…

INNER BATTLE: Anakin entered the Battle of Jabiim already unstable. His experiences plunged him into turmoil – especially the apparent death of his Master, Obi-Wan.

LOST JEDI: Thinking his Master dead, Anakin joined a group of similarly orphaned Padawans. His skill soon made him something of a leadership figure to the others. Anakin then had to face the bitter experience of watching most of them die in the fighting.

WE FEARED YOU WERE DEAD: Although Anakin survived the Battle of Jabiim, he suffered deep spiritual wounds that would propel him towards darkness.

A muffled sound of dismay escaped TC-16's vocabulator. Fury clouded Anakin's eyes. Lightsaber held high in his crooked right arm, he whirled into the intersecting corridor. No need to use the Force, as many Jedi said, for he was never anywhere but fully in the Force. He called instead on his anger, bringing images to mind to fuel his rage. It wasn't difficult, with so many to choose from: images of a Tusken Raider camp on Tatooine, Yavin 4, the defeat at Jabiim, Praesitlyn... Blue blade flashing, he cut a swath through the super battle droids, opening their burnished carapaces with diagonal slashes, cutting off blaster arms, hobbling the droids by deflecting bolts into their hermetically sealed knees. Scarcely letting a shot get past him, so that the commandos following in his wake could concentrate their fire on the ones Anakin only wounded.

Obi-Wan kept hoping to hear some of Anakin's old cocky grin in his tone, but he never did. Not since Jabiim. Perhaps not since Geonosis.

The war had burned it out of him.

Obi-Wan still tried, now and again, to spark a real smile in his former Padawan. And Anakin still tried to answer.

They both still tried to pretend the war hadn't changed them.

Now–Now he could reach into the Force and feel the engagement throughout Coruscant space as though the whole battle were happening inside his head.

His vehicle became his body. The pulses of its engines were the beat of his own heart. Flying, he could forget about his slavery, about his mother, about Geonosis and Jabiim, Aargonar and Muunilinst and all the catastrophes of this brutal war. About everything that had been done to him.

And everything he had done.

Clouds lifted from his heart: clouds of Jabiim, of Aargonar, of Kamino, of even the Tusken camp. For the first time in too many years he felt young: as young as he really was.

Young, and free, and full of light.

Palpatine looked frightened.

Anakin didn't know what to say. He couldn't imagine what to say. All he could imagine was what Grievous and Dooku must have done to put fear on the face of this brave good man-And that imagining ignited a sizzle in his blood that drew his face tight and clouded his heart and started again the low roll of thunder in his ears: thunder from Aargonar. From Jabiim.

Thunder from the Tusken camp.

His head has been filled with the smoke from his smothered heart for far too long; it has been the thunder that darkens his mind. On Aargonar, on Jabiim, in the Tusken camp on Tatooine, that smoke had clouded his mind, had blinded him and left him flailing in the dark, a mindless machine of slaughter; but here now, within this ship, this microscopic cell of life in the infinite sterile desert of space, his firewalls have opened so that the terror and the rage are out there, in the fight instead of in his head, and Anakin's mind is clear as a crystal bell.

In that pristine clarity, there is only one thing he must do.

Decide.

So he does.

He decides to win.

Summary

The Nimbus commandos are the best swamp fighters in the galaxy, and are outperforming clone troopers throughout the battle. The armored vehicles brought to deal with the environment prove worse than useless against them.

Alto Stratus, the commander of the Nimbus troopers, took on one of the biggest Republic armies assembled over the course of the war and sent it home crying. Twenty five of the twenty seven known Jedi to fight in the conflict were left dead and the other two were left traumatized. He did this all charging in first with a sword and shield. His performance against Anakin was favorable at the very least, he personally killed two Jedi Masters, and, in light of his condition, his later duels against the Padawan Pack didn't go too badly, either.