User:Thefourdotelipsis/Workbench

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

- Darth Vader

Firmus Piett was, essentially, the rockingest dude who ever had the opportunity to rock. He was in 2 movies, man. 2. Not even Cushing managed that (Lord knows Beardy tried).

Early career
Firmus Piett was born on the Outer Rim Territories ecumenopolis of Axxila during the Republic Classic era. Shortly following the Declaration of a New Order, Piett began his naval career, serving with the Axxila antipirate fleet. Due to the fact that he had no connections with the Core Worlds, Piett was mired by his background and forced to work in his native sector. Despite this, Piett soon rose in the ranks, and was given command of the antipirate fleet, making the Ciutric Hegemony one of the safest sectors in the Outer Rim. Piett's record with the fleet was flawless, and he had made a gargantuan amount of "arrests and suppressions." Soon enough, Piett's reputation reached the Core Worlds.

Captaincy of the Accuser and the Executor
Piett was singled out by the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet, Lord Darth Vader, who selected the Axxilan to serve with his Death Squadron. As captain of the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Accuser, Piett served under the fleet leader ship of Admiral Amise Griff, who commanded from the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Executor. During the Fifth Battle of Yavin IV, in which the forces of the Galactic Empire drove the Alliance to Restore the Republic out of their hidden fortress, Griff perished. With the position of Death Squadron's admiral filled by Captain Kendal Ozzel, Piett was given command of the Executor.

For almost three years, Piett and his crew searched for the new Alliance base. The captain started to learn about the workings of the Death Squadron's chain of command, and had heard about Vader's execution of unsatisfactory officers. Piett swore to himself that he would not fall prey to the Dark Lord's wrath by making a simple blunder. It was generally perceived that Admiral Ozzel had as much power over the fleet as Vader did, but Piett knew better, and took to studying his superior officer. In doing so, he earned Ozzel's ire, but he was also able to figure out how ascend in rank.

In 3 ABY, finally, a Viper probe droid reported that it had found a possible candidate in the Hoth system. Knowing that Admiral Ozzel would dismiss the finding, Piett waited until Lord Vader was on the bridge of the Executor before alerting his superior. Ozzel predictably passed the discovery off as a hidden smuggler base or something similar, but Vader was convinced that it was the Alliance base. Acting on the captain's advice, Vader had the Executor travel to the Hoth system. The admiral had been made to look a fool, souring him in Vader's eyes just as Piett had planned. At the same time, the Axxilan had made himself appear sharp and calculating in the Dark Lord's eyes, gaining him a small degree of favor.

Admiralty
Ozzel, however made a tactical blunder when exiting hyperspace in the Hoth system, alerting the Alliance to the Death Squadron's presence. The admiral was promptly contacted by Vader, who began choking Ozzel with the Force. Piett could do little more than watch on as Vader gave him a swift promotion to admiral. Captain Kallic then replaced Piett as captain of the Executor. Betting pools were formed on the command ship by the junior officers as to Piett's life expectancy, since Vader's admirals tended not to last very long in the role. Piett did make a potentially fatal blunder in allowing Luke Skywalker to slip out of the Executor ' s grasp, but was spared by the Dark Lord.

When Vader returned to Imperial Center with the Executor, Admiral Okins was given temporary command on the recommendation of Emperor Palpatine. Piett was briefly transferred back to the Accuser, from which he carried out the work of Vader's Death Squadron.

Death at the Battle of Endor
Several months later, once again on the Executor, Piett was given command of the substantial Imperial fleet amassed at Endor to trap the Alliance. During the Battle of Endor, Piett was pitted against the renowned Mon Calamari Admiral Ackbar. He was given direct orders from Palpatine to not directly attack and engage the Alliance craft, and so his fleet began to suffer from enemy General Lando Calrissian's point-blank tactics.

When the Death Star II's shield fell, many of the Alliance starfighters swept into the battle station's superstructure, leaving the capital ships to battle unhindered. Piett perished when an RZ-1 A-wing interceptor piloted by Arvel Crynyd rammed into the Executor ' s bridge, destroying the ship with all hands on board. The wreckage of the vessel plummeted towards the Death Star II, crashing into the battle station in a gargantuan fireball. The Battle of Endor was eventually lost by the Empire, with Palpatine dying his first death at the hands of the turncoat Lord Vader, who also perished.

Personality and traits
Firmus Piett, in his admiralty, garnered himself a set of detractors who claimed that he only achieved the rank because Darth Vader had such a low tolerance for failure. This was not exactly true: Vader chose to crew his ships with the Empire's finest officers, regardless of their politics and background. Apart from Thrawn, Vader chose not to utilize Palpatine's Grand Admirals, since Piett displayed talent that rivaled them anyway.

Despite what looked like a flawless service record, Piett actually made a multitude of mistakes and blunders throughout his career. What set him apart from his colleagues and allowed him to climb the chain of command was his ability to divert blame onto others.

When Piett reached the rank of Admiral, he realized that it was not quite the best of positions after all, as his mistakes would have more severe consequences. However, his knack for avoiding Darth Vader's anger allowed him to keep the post longer than he should have.

Behind the scenes
In 2002, Piett was given the first name "Firmus" in Daniel Wallace's The New Essential Guide to Characters.