Firmus Piett/Legends

"You are in command now, Admiral Piett."

- Darth Vader

Firmus Piett was a Human male from Axxila who served in the Imperial Navy before and during the Galactic Civil War. He had a nephew named Sarkli who would serve in the Rebellion before following his uncle's footsteps. He replaced Admiral Kendal Ozzel as commander of Death Squadron after Ozzel's execution at the hands of Darth Vader, and became one of the youngest Admirals in Imperial history. Piett continued in this command during the Battle of Endor, with the Star Dreadnought Executor as his flagship, where both he and his flagship were lost. He had shown considerable talent as a military commander, and his death was a blow to the Imperial Navy.

Early life and career


Piett was born on the Outer Rim world of Axxila. Normally, this would be a death-blow to one's career, for in the Imperial Starfleet it was important to have Core world connections and/or homes. Officers from the Outer Rim usually never earn valuable strategic postings. When Piett joined the Imperial Starfleet, he proved to be a most competent officer, and, by the time he was 26, Piett was already a lieutenant in command of a fleet that patrolled his home sector. During this time, Piett served with an above-average record of arrests and pirate suppressions.

Darth Vader later assigned Captain Piett to command the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Accuser, under Admiral Griff. When Griff died at Yavin 4 during the Rebel evacuation, Piett was assigned to the Star Dreadnought Executor as her captain. After his previous commanding officer, Admiral Ozzel, was killed by Darth Vader, Piett was promoted to the rank of admiral and placed in command of Lord Vader's Rebel-hunting fleet, Death Squadron.

Galactic Civil War
"Bounty hunters! We don't need their scum. Those Rebels won't escape us."

- Admiral Piett



Three years after the Battle of Yavin, Captain Piett and his command staff received a transmission from a probe droid in the Hoth system that revealed the hidden Rebel Alliance headquarters, Echo Base. Piett made sure that Darth Vader was on the bridge before informing his superiors of this find; as he expected, Admiral Ozzel dismissed it as something other than the Rebel base, such as a smuggler outpost. However, Vader immediately accepted Piett's interpretation of the data (based largely perhaps on the Dark Lord's own instincts) and ordered the fleet to the Hoth system.

The fleet's exit point from hyperspace was close enough to the planet that the Rebels were able to immediately detect it, giving them time to raise an energy shield that would stop any orbital bombardment. His original plan for a swift bombardment thwarted, Vader executed Ozzel (through telekinetic strangulation) and Piett, who had proven himself more competent, was immediately promoted to admiral. Crew members then started to bet on how long Piett had to live. While General Veers successfully captured the Rebel base, the Millennium Falcon escaped. Vader ordered the fleet to pursue, even though the Falcon had entered the deadly Hoth asteroid field.



During the search for the Falcon, the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Avenger found her, but the ship then mysteriously vanished. The bounty hunter Boba Fett, one of several hunters commissioned by Lord Vader to continue the hunt, realized that the Falcon had never left the system, and was in fact discreetly docked on the aft side of Avenger's command tower. He followed and reported her movements as she disengaged and limped to the planet Bespin. While Han Solo, Leia Organa, and Chewbacca were being given a tour of Cloud City by Lando Calrissian, Piett's engineers deactivated the hyperdrive on the Falcon. As the Falcon attempted to flee, she was nearly captured by Executor's tractor beam, but R2-D2 was able to reactivate the hyperdrive and the Falcon again escaped Imperial custody. Despite having lost the chance to capture the Falcon, a resigned Vader uncharacteristically chose to retire to his chambers rather than carry out further executions. This was perhaps due to the fact that the Falcon's escape was not Piett's fault&mdash;there was no way any man could have predicted that a 'standard' astromech droid could fix the hyperdrive. Another possible suggestion is that Vader grudgingly realized if he continued his gruesome "tradition" of executing officers, Piett's replacement would be another incompetent officer, who would have committed a mistake much quicker and with a far more devastating result. It is also possible that the duel with Skywalker may have emotionally impacted Vader. Whatever the reason, Vader was commanded to report back to Coruscant to make his report to the Emperor. With Executor as his escort, Piett was temporarily reassigned to the Star Destroyer Accuser to continue heading up the fleet.

Relationship with the Dark Lord
Some have also speculated that the reason Vader did not execute Piett after the Falcon escaped into hyperspace was because of his admiration of the Admiral. This is highly likely, as parts of Anakin Skywalker were still with Vader. Among others was his regard for competent officers who served under his command. Also, the fact that the Millennium Falcon going into lightspeed was not a direct fault of the Admiral may have also influenced Vader's choice. His liking of Piett can probably best be seen as comparable to his fondness of Commander Appo, who served as leader of the 501st almost twenty five years prior.

Death of the Admiral
"Intensify the forward batteries; I don't want anything to get through!"

- Piett, shortly before his death



Fleet Admiral Piett returned to the bridge of the Executor not long after the events surrounding the death of Prince Xizor, and commanded the Imperial fleet through to the Battle of Endor. If Piett had been allowed to engage the Rebel fleet, his fleet could have easily destroyed them. Instead, Emperor Palpatine ordered him to hold position and prevent the Rebels from escaping so that the Death Star's superlaser could pick them off one by one. However, the Emperor's plan backfired when the Rebels moved to attack the Star Destroyers at point-blank range, denying the battle station a clear shot.

During the battle, Admiral Ackbar ordered all Rebel ships to concentrate their fire on the Executor. Two A-wings destroyed a sensor dome on Executor's bridge tower. Piett ordered the forward turbolaser batteries to intensify their firepower, to compensate for the momentary shield failure, but it was too late. Moments later, a disabled A-wing, piloted by Green Squadron's leader Arvel Crynyd, crashed into the bridge, killing Piett, and the entire bridge crew. The force of the crashing starfighter pulverized much of the bridge tower, disabling the navigation centers of the vessel. Before the crew could regain control from one of the secondary command centers, Executor was caught in the gravity well of the Death Star, and promptly crashed into the surface of the station, exploding in a gigantic fireball.

Behind the scenes

 * Firmus Piett was portrayed by Kenneth Colley in both film appearances. He was voiced by David Rache for the radio drama of The Empire Strikes Back. He was voiced by Rupert Degas in the video-game Star Wars: Empire at War.
 * Piett, Jerjerrod (in Episode VI and Episode V: Special Edition), and Tarkin (in Episode III and Episode IV) were the only Imperial officers to appear in two Star Wars films, though of these three, only Piett had dialogue in both of his appearances.
 * Piett was not originally intended to appear in Return of the Jedi, and was not in the script. However, during the filming, a fan mail convinced George Lucas to include him. Thus, while filming the Tatooine scenes for the movie, Lucas wrote some dialogue for Piett.
 * It is interesting to note that during the Battle of Endor scenes in Return of the Jedi, Piett was wearing the rank badge of a Captain. However, this was most likely due to a props shortage, and this was a frequent scene in the Original Movies.

Appearances

 * Scoundrel's Luck
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * Splinter of the Mind's Eye comic
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back novel
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Therefore I Am: The Tale of IG-88
 * The Emperor's Trophy
 * Star Wars: Imperial Ace
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy