Admiral Firmus Piett (39 BBY - 4 ABY) is a character from the Star Wars universe. He was the only Imperial officer to appear in two Star Wars films (The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi). Piett was portrayed by Kenneth Colley.
Piett was born on the Outer Rim world of Axxila. In the Imperial Navy, it is always important to have Deep Core connections. Officers from the Outer Rim usually never get a very strategic posting. When he joined the Imperial Starfleet, he commanded a fleet that patrolled his home sector. Darth Vader later assigned Captain Piett to command the Star Destroyer Accuser, under Admiral Griff. When Griff died at Yavin 4 during the Rebel evacuation, Piett became captain of the Star Dreadnought1 Executor after its current commander, Captain Ozzel, was promoted to admiral and took command of Vader's fleet.
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. When Piett promptly informed his superiors of this find, Admiral Ozzel dismissed it as something other than the Rebel base (such as a smuggler outpost). However, Vader immediately accepted Piett and ordered his fleet, the Death Squadron, to the Hoth system.
The fleet's exit point from hyperspace was close enough to the planet that the Rebels were able to detect it immediately, giving them time to raise an energy shield that would stop any orbital bombardment. Ozzel was swiftly killed by Vader for his incompetence and Piett was instantly 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 a nearby asteroid field.
During the search for the Falcon, the Star Destroyer Avenger found it, but it strangely vanished. The bounty hunter Boba Fett, commissioned by Lord Vader, who realized that the Falcon was in fact secretly docked on the Avenger, followed and reported its movements as it disengaged and limped over to Bespin. While Han Solo, Leia Organa, and Chewbacca were being given a tour by Lando Calrissian, Piett's men deactivated the hyperdrive on the Falcon. As the Falcon fled, it was nearly captured by the Executor's tractor beam, but R2-D2 was able to reactivate the hyperdrive and the Falcon again escaped Imperial custody. Despite this failure, Piett was allowed to live by Vader.
One year later, Piett commanded the Imperial fleet at the Battle of Endor. If Piett had been allowed to engage the Rebel fleet, his ships could have easily destroyed them. Instead, he was ordered to hold position and just keep them from escaping so they could be vaporized by the second Death Star's superlaser. The Emperor's plan backfired when the Rebels moved to attack the Star Destroyers at point-blank range.
During the battle, Admiral Ackbar ordered all Rebel ships to concentrate their fire on the Executor. This concentrated fire temporarily knocked out the shields, allowing two A-Wings to destroy a targeting dome on the Executor's bridge tower, cutting the vital flow of targeting information as well as lowering the shields protecting the bridge. In response to the lowering of the shields, Piett ordered the forward turbolaser batteries to intensify their firepower. Still, it was too late; moments later, a disabled A-wing flew right into the bridge, killing Piett. Before the crew could regain control from the secondary command center, the Executor crashed into the Death Star and exploded.
Piett's nephew, Captain Sarkli, also served at the Battle of Endor. Piett was probably married and "Sarkli" was his wife's maiden name.
References
- Ref. Inside the Worlds of the Star Wars Trilogy. Executor-class Star Dreadnought is explicitly established in this source.
