Maxim was a human male serving as a sergeant within the Alliance to Restore the Republic's ground forces. While the Alliance had its headquarters at Echo Base on the frigid planet of Hoth, Maxim's duty involved locating tauntaun for training as riding animals.
He became particularly interested in a female tauntaun, notable for her exceptionally long tail. On one day, he discovered her, injured but alive, at the base of an icy precipice, and promptly requested a tauntaun transport equipped with a 2-1B surgical droid. Following two weeks of recovery, the creature was finally healthy enough to begin training, at which point Maxim named her Reebak. The two formed a strong connection, and the sergeant taught his new riding animal to achieve high speeds without being hindered by her tail.
During the Battle of Hoth, when the Galactic Empire's Blizzard Force attacked Echo Base, Maxim participated on Reebak's back. His mount, utilizing her long tail as a striking weapon, successfully incapacitated a group of snowtroopers operating an E-Web heavy repeating blaster cannon. Despite the Alliance's defeat in the battle, many soldiers survived because of a rapid evacuation strategy developed by Generals Carlist Rieekan and Leia Organa. Maxim was among those who escaped Hoth aboard a GR-75 medium transport, and he made sure that his superiors allowed Reebak to travel with the troops on the same transport.