Maximilian Veers was the son of a middle-class working family. He joined the Imperial Academy and, while there, decided to train towards a career in the Assault Armor Division, where he might operate the mechanical behemoths that were the All Terrain Armored Transports. He believed the massive vehicles introduced during the Clone Wars best personified his own personality as well as that of the Galactic Empire. He took up his training with rigorous determination, showing a surprising intellect and initiative after emerging from several "suicide missions" by surpassing his mission assignments. Veers graduated at the top of his class and his superiors finding him both skillful and dangerous, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant upon graduation and an assignment as commander of an AT-AT. As