"The Promotion of Lieutenant Veers" is a short story written by Bill Slavicsek and Curtis Smith and published in The Star Wars Sourcebook in 1987. Set during the Imperial Period between 19 BBY and 9 BBY, it portrays Junior Lieutenant Maximilian Veers' experience on the planet Culroon III. Veers has been barred from a ceremony celebrating the peaceful transition of power from the native Culroon to the Galactic Empire for speaking against the plans of his superior officer, General Irrv. However, the Culroon leader Kloff betrays the Empire by launching an insurrection. Veers comes to the rescue of the Imperials with an All Terrain Armored Transport, driving the Culroon into a retreat. Irrv is still irate with Veers for obeying his orders, but the general is shot by stormtrooper commander Grath, who promotes Veers to the rank of major for his actions.
The short story was reprinted in the second edition of The Star Wars Sourcebook, published in 1994, and again in the 30th Anniversary edition of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. The short story provided some backstory for Veers, who had been portrayed as a general in the 1980 film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. The events of "The Promotion of Lieutenant Veers" would later be referenced by other sources, some of which contradicted the short story.
"The Promotion of Lieutenant Veers" was published in The Star Wars Sourcebook.
During the Imperial Period, Junior Lieutenant Maximilian Veers of the Imperial Army watches a ceremony on the planet Culroon III from a distance on a platform near an All Terrain Armored Transport. He has been confined to the Imperial base by General Irrv. Veers zooms in with his macrobinoculars to see the Imperial officers and the leader of the native Culroon species, Kloff, surprised to find that he has not brought the majority of his warriors with him. The lieutenant recalls his first few weeks on Culroon III, where he learned about the planet's violent history and argued with General Irrv that the Culroon would only surrender by force. Irrv had brushed off his concerns, blaming Veers' bloodlust stemming from his Academy training.
Veers brings his mind back to the present, ruminating on how Kloff had used imported weapons to dominate the Culroon prior to the Empire's arrival. The galactic community had ignored the planet until the Emperor ordered General Irrv to subjugate it by any means necessary. As the ceremony begins, Kloff accepts a Naval sword from Irrv and uses it to stab his aide, Colonel Jeffers. At that signal, thousands of Culroon warriors emerge and begin attacking the Imperial forces with power weapons. Realizing the trap, Veers orders the AT-AT crew to operate the vehicle to attempt to save their peers.
Irrv orders his stormtroopers to form a protective ring around him, but many fall to Kloff's superior numbers and weapons. As the AT-AT arrives, many of the Culroon flee at the sight of the strange metal beast, with Veers firing its blasters on the crowd. Stormtrooper commander Grath directs his troops to take shelter beneath the AT-AT's body. After the Culroon have retreated, Veers looks down at Irrv and suggests that the general owes him an apology. Irrv is indignant and threatens Veers with a court-martial, only for Grath to shoot the superior officer. The commander then addresses Veers as a major and requests an escort back to the garrison, to which Veers offers Grath a lift back.
"The Promotion of Lieutenant Veers" was published on a single page in Chapter Seven of The Star Wars Sourcebook, a companion to West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. The sourcebook was written by Bill Slavicsek and Curtis Smith and published in November 1987. The short story was also included in the second edition of the sourcebook, published in June 1994, and the whole of The Star Wars Sourcebook was reproduced in Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game 30th Anniversary Edition, published by Fantasy Flight Games on July 5, 2018.
Maximilian Veers, the short story's protagonist
"The Promotion of Lieutenant Veers" tells the backstory of General Maximilian Veers, who was created for the original trilogy film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. Portrayed in the film by Julian Glover, General Veers commands the Imperials at the Battle of Hoth from an All Terrain Armored Transport. Both the character and the vehicles first appeared in the film novelization by Donald F. Glut, which was published on April 12, 1980, prior to the film's premiere on May 21 of that year. The Empire Strikes Back also portrays a similar type of promotion as shown in "The Promotion of Lieutenant Veers" when the Sith Lord Darth Vader executes Admiral Kendal Ozzel for his failure and addresses Captain Firmus Piett as an admiral.
Other sources referenced Veers' backstory on Culroon III, beginning with another West End Games sourcebook, Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back, written by Michael Stern and published in 1989. Culroon III received its first visual depiction in the 1998 LucasArts video game Star Wars: Rebellion, which also alluded to the events of "The Promotion of Lieutenant Veers." In Veers' Databank entry on StarWars.com, published by 2001, the central conflict of the short story was identified as the "insurrection on Culroon III." The short story states that Jeffers was stabbed by Kloff, but that character was not confirmed to have died from his wounds until the publication of The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia in 2008.
In terms of the timeline within the Star Wars Legends continuity, "The Promotion of Lieutenant Veers" takes place sometime following the formation of the Galactic Empire, which took place in 19 BBY according to The New Essential Chronology. The New Essential Guide to Characters, written by Daniel Wallace and published on April 23, 2002 states that Veers had a son, Zevulon Veers, shortly after the insurrection on Culroon III and that Zevulon was a teenager in the months following the Battle of Hoth in 3 ABY. Therefore, Zevulon must have been born by 9 BBY at the latest, meaning that the events of "The Promotion of Lieutenant Veers" must have taken place prior to or during that year.
The thirty-first issue of The Official Star Wars Fact File (cover pictured) contradicted the short story in multiple ways.
The 2001 video game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds portrayed Veers' promotion from colonel to general in the fourth level of the Imperial campaign, "An Empire's Fury." The game also contradicted "The Promotion of Lieutenant Veers" and other sources by describing AT-ATs as a new weapon that debuted on the planet Zaloriis shortly before the Battle of Hoth. The location of the prototype AT-AT is also named Camp Culroon. In 2006, the video game Star Wars: Empire at War presented a further contradiction with a level in its Imperial campaign, set between 2 BBY and 0 BBY. The level, titled "A New Weapon of War," presented the AT-AT as a new weapon first demonstrated on the planet Carida. The fourteenth issue of the revised run of The Official Star Wars Fact File, a magazine by De Agostini which was published around April 9, 2014, resolved the discrepancy from Galactic Battlegrounds by stating that Veers was developing a new model of AT-AT on Zaloriis.
The thirty-first issue of the original The Official Star Wars Fact File, published on July 31, 2002, expanded on details from "The Promotion of Lieutenant Veers" while also creating contradictions. It stated that Veers watched the ceremony from the AT-AT's cockpit. However, the short story opened with Veers watching the ceremony through macrobinoculars on a shuttle docking platform above the AT-AT and is not described as being inside the walker until after the Culroon attack. The Fact File also stated that the ceremony involved the exchange of the Naval sword with a ceremonial blaster. However, it contradicted the short story by stating that Kloff was intended to give the sword to Irrv, whereas "The Promotion of Lieutenant Veers" describes Irrv as handing the sword to Kloff. The contradictions were repeated in the fourteenth issue of the revised The Official Star Wars Fact File.
On April 25, 2014, Lucasfilm Ltd. declared that the majority of existing Expanded Universe works would be rebranded as Star Wars Legends and no longer considered fully canon, which included "The Promotion of Lieutenant Veers." The canon junior novelization of The Empire Strikes Back, The Empire Strikes Back: So You Want to Be a Jedi?, written by Adam Gidwitz and published in 2015, referenced Maximilian Veers' career prior to his promotion to general, including his participation in a campaign against the Culroonians on Culroon III.
- The Star Wars Sourcebook
- The Star Wars Sourcebook, Second Edition
- Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game 30th Anniversary Edition