POSSIBLE PIETT BIOGRAPHY
Written and submitted by Susan Mollenkopf

The official biography of Admiral Angus Piett cites his inauspicious origins as "proof" of the Imperial Navy's egalitarian policies.

Piett was orphaned in infancy, on the Outer Rim world of Hibernia, by a mining accident which decimated his village. He owes his survival to the frantic barking of a herder which detected his presence in an air pocket under several feet of debris. This circumstance may explain why, despite the Admiral's aversion to involvement in civilian affairs, his tax returns uniformly reflect generous donations to several humane societies.

Increasingly lax governmental enforcement of safety legislation during the decline of the Old Republic filled orphanages throughout the galaxy. Childhood in one of these overcrowded and understaffed institutions fostered the development of an intellect unfettered by religion or ethics, and an agility in unarmed combat equal to that of Lord Vader's Noghri commandoes. These early experiences undoubtedly account for the Admiral's rather flat emotional affect and his utter lack of nostalgia for the glories of the former government.

Piett escaped this environment by enlisting in the Navy on his eighteenth birthday. After completing fleet camp, he was relegated to the tedious routine of an ordnance dump. His commander, impressed by his obvious intelligence and by certain intriguing spikes in his psychological profile, recognized the ability and ruthlessness required of a Naval officer sworn to uphold an increasingly ineffectual government, and persuaded him to sit for qualifying tests. Piett had no sooner transmitted his answers than pirates, having eluded the planetary patrol, launched a land-based attack on the ordnance dump. Piett's unparalleled ferocity in the resulting battle, in which he was severely injured, won him a commendation from the planetary governor. Piett emerged from the bacta tank to board a shuttle for the Republic Naval Academy. His achievements there qualified him for flight training, but claustrophobia, rooted in his childhood trauma, barred him from the cockpit. Piett went on to advanced technical studies in astrogation and was assigned to the Star Destroyer Annihilator, on patrol in an Outer Rim sector containing several mining planets which supplied raw materials critical to the Navy. The ship's commanding officer, Captain Aaran, found the inhabitants of his sector too preoccupied with subsistence to engage in subversion. The sector was, however, infamous for the depredations of pirates, who had evaded the ineffectual forays of the Navy for centuries. Piett's genius for astrogation, and his uncanny ability to predict where a fleeing enemy was most likely to emerge from hyperspace, made possible the devastating surprise attacks and inescable pursuits which eradicated pirate activity in the sector over a period of two years, and earned him a steady serious of promotions. These qualities came to the attention of Darth Vader himself, who personally requisitioned Piett to serve as captain of the newly constructed Executor. Piett's appointment fired the animosity of Admiral Ozzel, who, with his adherents, systematically ostracized the young captain as an "upstart", possessing neither inherited wealth nor political connections. Ozzel's perception of Piett as a threat proved fully justified immediately before the Battle of Hoth.

Piett's envious detractors in the Imperial Navy attribute his unprecedented longevity as Vader's admiral to the ability to hide his mistakes. How he could do so in such a high-profile position, with his master literally breathing down his collar, has never, however, been satisfactorily explained. Any impartial study of Piett's career can only credit Lord Vader with having selected a man of sigular talents. Emperor Palpatine was sufficiently intrigued to devise his own theory, but a personal meeting and covert testing during a reception on Coruscant on the first anniversary of the Admiral's promotion found no evidence of Force ability.

The dossier compiled by Rebel intelligence cites Piett's unorthodox willingness to take a calculated risk, in contrast to the traditional Imperial reliance on "proof, not leads", as singularly compatible with Vader's intuitive decision making. The dossier notes that Piett not only identified the secret base on Hoth on the basis of a few fragments from a probe droid, but also, having made the hyperspace jump directly from Hoth to Bespin, must have deduced the most likely destination of the Millennium Falcon , without assistance from Boba Fett. (The Admiral's contemptuous dismissal of the bounty hunters summoned to Executor as superfluous was both a characteristically accurate assessment and the closest approach to an emotional outburst his men have ever witnessed.) Two other events in the course of the search for Luke Skywalker can only have increased Vader's respect for the Admiral's judgment. Dismissal of Piett's concerns about entering the asteroid field as "excuses" cost Vader a Star Destroyer and a flight of TIE fighters in an ultimately fruitless pursuit. Another difference of opinion, although voiced out of earshot of the crew pits, was observed by the controllers and officers on the bridge of the Executor immediately before Vader stalked off to board the shuttle for Bespin. These witnesses, overheard discussing the incident on shore leave, were uniformly convinced thqt the Admiral had expressed reservations about the effectiveness of disabling the Mi llennium Falcon's hyperdrive, and was therefore spared the consequences of the freighter's escape.

As Piett was summoned with more and more frequency to Lord Vader's quarters, and remained there for increasingly longer periods, speculation began to circulate among the officers and crew of the Executor that the Admirally might actually have seen his master unmasked. Such an encounter could have been no accident; numerous other officers who were periodically required to make periodic reports to Vader all reported finding his meditation chamber closed. If Vader ever permiited such a revelation, perhaps as a test of Piett's discretion, he found his confidence well founded. The Admiral, although civil enough to his officers and actively protective of his crew, confided in no one.

It is nevertheless undisputed that Piett enjoyed high favor with the Dark Lord. Motivated either by fatalism or by increasing confidence, Piett recognized the rampant fear gripping the Executor as a distraction rather than a motivation and took steps to mitigate it. Piett spent most of his waking hours on the bridge, both to direct the operations of his crew and to institute remedial measures if human error could occur. He is known, on several occasions, to have intervened on behalf of a hapless crewman by assuming personal responsibility for a mistake. As a result, the execution of Captain Ozzel was the last to take place aboard Executor. Although the usual rapid rate of promotion in Vader's fleet came to a standstill as a result, morale and efficency doubled in the months before the Battle of Endor. An anecdote concerning one confrontation between Vader and his Admiral, although the dialogue may not be altogether accurate, captures the Navy's perception of their relationship. Vader, contenting himself with a verbal admonition rather than his customary violence, is said to have muttered, via comlink from his meditation chamber, "Admiral, the bridge of the Executor is no place for fools"; Piett, via comlink from the bridge, is said to have replied, "Understood, my lord. We'll keep you continuously updated in your quarters."