Firmus Piett

"Don't fail me again&hellip; Admiral."

- Darth Vader, to Firmus Piett

Firmus Piett, a human male native to Axxila, was an Imperial officer who served in the naval forces of the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War. At the time of the Battle of Hoth, he served as first officer of the Star Dreadnought Executor&mdash;flagship of the Sith Lord Darth Vader&mdash;assisting Admiral Kendal Ozzel. After Ozzel committed a fatal mistake during the hunt for the Rebel Alliance, Piett was promoted to admiral and given command of Vader's flagship. Piett served in that capacity until the Battle of Endor, when the Imperial Navy confronted the Rebel Fleet around the second Death Star battle station in the year 4 ABY. The admiral perished aboard his starship when Arvel Crynyd's A-wing starfighter crashed into the Executor's bridge.

Early life and career
"You see, Piett? We should never hesitate to use the lash, when necessary&mdash;but there are moments when the lure is even more effective."

- Grand Moff Tarkin, to Firmus Piett

Born a male human, Firmus Piett hailed from Axxila, a planet located in the Outer Rim Territories of the galaxy. At some point, Piett joined the starfleet of Palpatine's Galactic Empire, and rose through the ranks. As a junior officer under the command of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, he attended the planet Jelucan's introduction ceremony into the Galactic Empire, following its conquest eight years after the Clone Wars.

Search for the Rebels
By 3 ABY, Piett had been made a captain. He was stationed on the Executor, a Super Star Destroyer that acted as the flagship of Darth Vader, the right-hand man of Emperor Sheev Palpatine himself. The mission of Vader's personal fleet of Star Destroyers, the Death Squadron, was to search the galaxy for the Rebel Alliance's secret base.

On the Executor, Piett was subordinate to Admiral Kendal Ozzel, whom he saw as a pompous and incompetent officer. Piett was notably tasked with collecting and analyzing data sent by Imperial probe droids looking for traces of the Rebels. When information came in from a probe exploring the Hoth system, Piett called out to Admiral Ozzel while Vader was present on the bridge. Vader recognized the information as a solid lead on the location of the Rebel headquarters, and he ordered the Death Squadron to set course for the icy world of Hoth.

Admiralty
However, Admiral Ozzel made a complete mess of the Death Squadron's approach to Hoth, taking the ships out of hyperspace too close to the system. As the Rebels were now aware of the Empire's presence, they were able to erect a defense shield over their base, preventing any orbital bombardment. Captain Piett stood at Ozzel's side when Darth Vader force choked the admiral. With Ozzel dead, the Emperor's right-hand man promoted Captain Piett to admiral on the spot. Piett's first action as an admiral of the Imperial Fleet was to order the disposal of his predecessor's corpse.

Thanks to the intervention of General Veers' ground force, the Empire managed to get the upper hand on Hoth, forcing the Rebels to evacuate. Despite the orbital blockade imposed by the Death Squadron, many enemy ships managed to fall through the cracks. Subsequently, Admiral Piett was ordered to track one of the fleeing ships, the Millennium Falcon. With that vessel and its crew of Han Solo, Leia Organa, C-3PO, and Chewbacca as bait, Vader was confident he could lure Luke Skywalker into a trap.

Under Piett's command, the Executor then engaged in the pursuit of the Millennium Falcon. One of the bridge crew that served under his command during the pursuit was Lieutenant Commander Ciena Ree. When it transpired that the Rebel craft was hiding in the Hoth system's asteroid field, the admiral was concerned that debris would cause significant damage to Death Squadron's vessels. Vader, however, ignored Piett's advice, ordering the fleet to enter the asteroid field. True to his words, the asteroid field brutally punished the Imperial fleet with repeated meteor impacts, destroying at least one Star Destroyer and causing significant damage. In a holographic conference with Vader and the commanders of the other Destroyers, one of whom was killed during the meeting when his Destroyer was obliterated, Piett voiced his belief that the rebel ship must logically have been destroyed considering the damage they had taken, but Vader insisted that they were still alive and ordered him to keep searching. Shortly thereafter, Piett received word that Emperor Palpatine himself demanded to speak with his right hand man. Piett then informed Vader, and, under orders, moved the Executor out of the asteroid field, in hopes of sending a clear transmission.

To Admiral Piett's discreet distaste, Vader later assembled a motley crew of bounty hunters on the Executor's bridge, enlisting them in his track for the Millennium Falcon.

Dogfight in the Hudalla system
Later, Admiral Piett assembled a group of Imperial officers including the now-Commander Ciena Ree and her friend Nash Windrider for a patrol in the outer edge of the planet Hudalla's ring. In private, Piett told Commander Ree that there were rebel spies in the planetary ring. He tasked her with ensuring that at least one of the pilots escaped into hyperspace. During the dogfight, Ciena and Nash encountered their former fellow cadet Thane Kyrell, who had joined the Rebel Alliance's Corona Squadron. Since she still loved Thane, Ciena ensured that he and most of Corona Squadron escaped into hyperspace. Following the mission, the TIE fighter pilots were reprimanded for their failure to destroy all the rebel ships. However, Piett discreetly nodded at Ciena to thank her for following his orders. Ciena later learned that the dogfight was part of an Imperial plan to lure the rebels into a trap at Endor.

Death at Endor
Although he failed to capture the Rebel hero Luke Skywalker at Bespin, Piett managed to escape Vader's wrath. Some time later, he commanded the Imperial fleet in the Battle of Endor, where he received orders from the Emperor himself to retain the Executor  and the Imperial fleet from directly engaging the rebel forces; Piett wryly cited to a fellow officer that he was told the Emperor had something special planned and that the ships only needed to prevent another Rebel retreat. The special plan was revealed to be the fully operational superlaser, which annihilated two Rebel cruisers in quick succession. However, Piett's orders backfired when the rebels, in a desperate gambit, moved their remaining fleet into direct combat with his own armada in the hopes that the Death Star would cease fire rather than risk friendly casualties.

When Han Solo and his force, who had managed to sneak under Piett's nose in a stolen Imperial shuttle, destroyed the shield generator protecting the second Death Star, the battle began to turn against the Empire. Rebel starfighters began to strafe the superstructure of the Executor, which had been personally targeted by Rebel admiral Gial Ackbar, a former personal slave to Firmus' deceased mentor, Grand Moff Tarkin, and dealt a potentially mortal blow to the mighty ship when two A-wings destroyed the portside bridge-mounted deflector shield generator, disabling the Executor bridge shields. In response to the increasing threat, Piett ordered that all guns on the flagship "intensify forward firepower." This was to be his final command, however, as moments later an RZ-1 A-wing interceptor piloted by Arvel Crynyd was struck by turbolaser fire and spun on a collision course with the bridge. Piett's subordinate, seeing it coming, screamed that it was too late. Piett whipped round, saw the fighter barreling straight for him and reflexively, but futilely, dived for cover as it crashed into the Executor bridge and exploded, killing Piett and the entire bridge crew and, moments later, causing the vessel to lose control and crash into the second Death Star.

Personality and traits
"Piett... you fool."

- Admiral Garrick Versio, watching the demise of the Executor

An ambitious officer, Firmus Piett was known for his quick thinking in his ability to shift blame for his blunders. After the Executor was lost at Endor under Piett's captaincy, some members of the Imperial Navy, such as Admiral Garrick Versio, judged him foolish.

Behind the scenes
Admiral Piett was played by Kenneth Colley in both Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. Piett is the only Imperial officer to survive more than one film and be portrayed by the same actor.

Colley recalled that when he auditioned for the role, Irvin Kershner said to him, "'I'm looking for someone that would frighten Adolf Hitler!' And he sized me up and down and continued, 'Yes, I think you’re it.'"

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Galactic Defense
 * Star Wars Battlefront II
 * Lost Stars
 * Lost Stars webcomic
 * Star Wars: The Original Trilogy – A Graphic Novel
 * Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
 * The Empire Strikes Back: So You Want to Be a Jedi?
 * Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back junior novelization
 * Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
 * Return of the Jedi: Beware the Power of the Dark Side!
 * Star Wars: Return of the Jedi junior novelization