General Veers

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Maximilian Veers was the son of a middle-class working family. He joined the Imperial Academy and graduated in the top of his class, and was given the rank of Lieutenant upon graduation. One of his early tours sent him out to the Outer Rim to a barbaric world called Culroon III where he quickly learned that the Empire did not tolerate incompetence and failure. During the attempt to pacify the natives of Culroon III, General Irrv had ordered for Lieutenant Veers to remain confined to the base while he and an Imperial party went to negotiate a peace with the Culroon natives. Veers had warned that it was a trap and that Irrv should bring armored support to deter any would-be ambushers. General Irrv did not listen and paid the price with his life when he was executed for incompetence after the Culroon natives deceived and killed most of his party. If it had not been for Lieutenant Veers' quick thinking and disregard of a direct order, the Imperial party would have been utterly slaughtered. For his bravery and brilliance, Veers was promoted to Major.

Sometime later, Veers was appointed commander of the Emperor's personal AT-AT legion and promoted to the rank of Colonel. He also became an instructor at the Imperial Academy on Carida. There he taught a promising cadet named Davin Felth. During a training exercise, Felth lowered his walker to its knees in a effort to prevent the opposing force from exploiting the weakness its long legs presented. After Veers reviewed the successful tactic and the weakness pointed out about his beloved walkers, Felth found himself serving in the infantry, despite his academy training.

Sometime between the ranks of Lieutenant and Colonel, Veers married and had one son named Zevulon. When Zevulon was only a young boy, Veers lost his wife to a dreadful accident during a family vacation. Devastated by the death of his wife, Colonel Veers buried his grief into his military career to the point where it began to affect his relationship with his son.

That relationship would be tested further when Veers was ordered to report to the first Death Star as a ground commander and as an academic instructor. Fortunately, he had only just arrived in-system at the Battle of Yavin and was spared of an untimely death with the destruction of the battle station. However, an X-wing fighter spotted his shuttle and forced a crash landing on the jungle moon of Yavin 4. For weeks, Colonel Veers survived on emergency rations and local wildlife before the Imperial Navy was able to rescue him.

Colonel Veers was sent to command a troop garrison on Corellia. There he helped CorSec Inspectors Hal and Corran Horn put an end to the criminal Black Sun lieutenant, Zekka Thyne, by storming his fortress on the notion that Thyne was harbouring Rebel insurgents. Impressed by Veers' performance in removing Black Sun's presence near Coronet, Grand Admiral Thrawn recommended the brilliant AT-AT commander to Darth Vader. Vader accepted the recommendation and promoted the Colonel to Major General and placed him in command of Death Squadron's ground troops.

Veers was found on Zaloriis where he was working on a secret AT-AT project, when the Zalorans rebelled against the Empire and abducted him, but was rescued by Vader.

Veers' most notable success occurred at the Battle of Hoth when he was given the chance to correct a mistake caused by the incompetent Admiral Ozzel. General Veers lived up to both his reputation and Lord Vader's expectations by quickly deploying his armored regiment, designated Blizzard Force, into the Echo Base mountain valley and personally destroying the shield generator protecting the Rebel base. Shortly after the destruction of the shield generator, Rebel snowspeeder pilot Derek "Hobbie" Klivian flew his damaged vessel directly into the cockpit of Veers' Blizzard One walker. (This takes place only in the Empire Strikes Back novel, and is not seen in the movie.)

Both men miraculously survived the incident but came out badly injured. General Veers, although he had seen Klivian coming, had not been quick enough to get out of the cockpit in time. His slowness had cost him his legs, after a support beam fell on top of them and literally crushed the bones into several pieces so small that reconstruction and bacta could not restore them. Veers, like many in the galaxy, was too proud and held a dislike for cybernetics and refused to have his legs replaced with prosthetics. Because of this Veers would be confined to a hoverchair for the rest of his life.