ADMIRAL PIETT AND THE ICON OF THE WAMPAS
Written and submitted by David Douglas

"Admiral Piett!" Lord Vader bellowed. He had just returned from the surface of the ice planet Hoth. Admiral Piett, who had been drinking a mug of coffee at the time, put down the mug, wiped his mouth, and spun round to face the Dark Lord of the Sith. "Yes, milord?" Piett asked. "General Veers has yet to return from the surface of Hoth. Apparently he was investigating the depths of the Rebel fortess. I want you to go and find him." Vader commanded.

"Me?" Piett asked, "With all due respect, I'm with the Navy. We drive around the galaxy in huge starships spreading fear, terror, and happiness to the worlds of the Empire. Surely this is the Army's job." "The Army's busy." Vader replied. "Doing what, may I ask?" Piett replied. Vader paused, "Err... Well... Major Covell's organised the biggest ever snowboarding contest down there, and all of the troopers are down there competing."

So Piett ended up having to fly a shuttle down to Hoth's surface. With his Imperial Navy-issue cold weather gear, and a woolen hat with 'PIETT' on it in big white lettering, he strode off into the wastes of Hoth. He was of course fully prepared for Hoth's conditions - he had a thermos flask full of Coruscant's finest coffee brew, a pen light, the Imperial Army survivial manual (With "Don't Panic!" written on its cover in friendly bright red letters), and his trusty datapad. He brought up a map on his datapad (After a quick game of Solitare on it), and strode purposefully into the blizzard.

He found Echo Base's front door rather easily. Major Covell had converted it into the judging area for the snowboarding contest. Piett seeked out the Major and asked him a few pertinent questions. "Where's Veers? Vader's getting a bit nervous." Piett asked him. Covell frowned, "You tell me. He said there was something strange deep within the base." "Like what?" Piett asked. "No idea." Covell turned back to the snowboarding action, "Ooooh! Nice triple-back-flip there, Trooper AB-1234!"

Piett went deeper into Echo Base, and found a tunnel entrance with a handwritten note pinned to the top of it. It read - "Just popped down here for a minute. Won't be long. - Veers". Piett entered the tunnel, and almost immediately walked into a wampa ice creature. Piett, utilising his often underestimated skill as a master interior decorator, realised that a wampa fur rug would be just the thing for the Executor's bridge. Without any weapons of any sort (Except the flask full of coffee, and that was for extreme emergencies), Piett used another of his many hidden talents - his black belt in karate. The wampa never knew what hit him.

Piett subdued twenty-five wampas in this manner until he reached a large cave. He saw Veers, locked in a life or death struggle with a huge wampa. Veers saw the admiral, and said "Oh, good afternoon there Piett. You wouldn't mind giving us a hand, would you?" Piett gave the wampa his fearsome karate chop, and the wampa fell to the ground. "What's the big deal about this place?" Piett asked. "Apparently the sacred icon of wampa society is in the next cave." Veers said, pointing to a small cavern entrance. Piett ignited his pen light, and had a look inside.

"Well?" Veers asked as Piett came out of the cavern. Piett went back in, and brought it out. The sacred icon of wampa society was a self-powered bright red lava lamp.