Although Mako had a sharp mind and was healthy, he decided to waste his time and his father's money. After the Clone Wars, Mako finally decided to join the military. Though he was only twenty, Mako was considered too old to join the Imperial Academy. Mako only managed to get in because of his father, and because advisors at the Academy believed that Mako would follow his father's example.
Despite their hopes, Mako proved to be rather a nuisance to the Academy by disobeying orders and breaking rules. He made friends with Han Solo, and also with ZZ-4Z, the butler droid of Dean Horace Wyrmyr. Through the droid, Mako learned many secrets of the man's past. Mako's pranks went too far when he stole some antimatter and used it to blow up the Academy's Mascot Moon—he had only intended to blow the Academy's seal off of the face of the small "moon," but he underestimated the size of the explosion and inadvertently destroyed the entire satellite. For this catastrophe, Mako was expelled two years before his friend Han graduated. As he left the Academy, Mako stole ZZ-4Z, who was going to be used for scrap at the recycle plant.
Mako disappeared from the Imperial Academy's surrounding area and became a smuggler. He later helped Han Solo (who was later dismissed from the military for rescuing a Wookiee slave called Chewbacca) learn the smuggling trade. From then on, Han and Chewbacca followed Mako around as his sidekicks, and a short time into their work Han also won ZZ-4Z in a game of Sabacc.
Mako Spince
Mako and Han created their headquarters on Nar Shaddaa, and the money from their smuggling missions came reeling in. Their greatest venture together was the Battle of Nar Shaddaa. However, two years later, there was a major setback: When Mako was on a smuggling run in the Ottega system he was captured and abused by the NaQoit Bandits, forcing him to retire and ride a repulsor chair. Since he could no longer work as a smuggler, he became a traffic controller. He saw Han Solo before Han left Nar Shaddaa, but he would not meet his old friend until several years later.
When Han Solo returned to Nar Shaddaa a decade later, a bitter and older Mako allowed him safe passage but contacted Boba Fett and Dengar so that he could get enough money to retire from his pitiful job. Unfortunately for the bounty hunters, Han and Leia Organa Solo escaped. The next time Han turned up, Mako contacted the Star Destroyer Invincible, but things were to turn fatal for Mako when Han piloted the Millennium Falcon behind Mako's traffic control pylon. The pylon was caught up in the Star Destroyer's tractor beam, spearing the craft and blowing both vehicles up. Mako's second double cross had been his final undoing.
- Dark Empire endnotes
- Dark Empire Sourcebook
- Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook
- The Essential Guide to Characters
- The Essential Guide to Droids
- Aurra Sing: Dawn of the Bounty Hunters
- The Official Star Wars Fact File40
- The Official Star Wars Fact File77
- The New Essential Chronology
- Star Wars: The Comics Companion
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- "Han Solo: The Early Years" — Star Wars Insider 106
- "Death to the Dark Side!: The Making of Dark Empire – Part III" — Star Wars Insider 159