The Empire Strikes Back

Piett serves in the Galactic Empire as first officer and captain of the Super Star Destroyer, Executor, Darth Vader's flagship. While in search of the Rebel base, under the command of Admiral Ozzel, Piett receives a suspicious transmission from an Imperial probe droid located in the Hoth system. Although dismissed and ignored by Admiral Ozzel, Piett supersedes his superior and informs Vader of the transmission; which in fact does turn out to be the hidden Rebel Alliance headquarters, Echo Base. Vader then dispatches the Imperial fleet to Hoth; however, Ozzel orders the fleet to exit hyperspace too close to the planet, enabling them to be detected by the Rebels, who raise an energy shield to stop any orbital bombardment. Ozzel is quickly executed by Vader for his incompetence. Vader then promotes Piett to Admiral, giving him full command of the Destroyer.^[4]

After the Battle of Hoth, Piett is tasked with the pursuit of the Millennium Falcon, which has escaped into a nearby asteroid field. Piett informs Vader of this, whilst Vader is in his meditation chamber aboard the Executor; in doing so, Piett becomes the first onscreen character to see Vader without his helmet. Vader at first ignores Piett's concern over venturing into the field, but later commands the admiral to move the ship away from the asteroids, in order to gain a clear signal for Vader's communication with Emperor Palpatine. Vader subsequently hires bounty hunters to assist in the capture of the Millennium Falcon, a decision which Piett appears to disdain. With the Falcon continuing to evade capture, Vader executes Star Destroyer Avenger captain Lorth Needa, conveying his displeasure as an ominous warning to Piett.^[4]

With bounty hunter Boba Fett tracking the Falcon to Cloud City on Bespin, Piett has his engineers deactivate the hyperdrive on the ship. Later attempting to escape, the Millennium Falcon, and those within it, are nearly captured when Piett orders the activation of the Executor's tractor beam. However, the Falcon unexpectedly jumps to light-speed and evades capture, as R2-D2 is able to reactivate the hyperdrive. Despite his failure, a visibly terrified Piett finds his life uncharacteristically spared by Vader at the end of the film.^[4]

Return of the Jedi

In the following film, Admiral Piett is in command of the Imperial fleet at the Battle of Endor, still aboard the Executor. He first appears in the film when a covert team of Rebels, led by Han Solo aboard the stolen Imperial shuttle, Tydirium, attempt to transmit an older valid security code, to allow them shield access and entry to the forest moon of Endor. Piett is then interrupted by Vader, who informs Piett that he will deal with the shuttle personally.^[5]

During the Rebel attack on the second Death Star, Piett receives orders from Emperor Palpatine himself to hold position and keep the Rebels from escaping from the Death Star's fully operational superlaser. The plan is disrupted when the Rebels are ordered by Admiral Ackbar to attack the Star Destroyers at point-blank range, concentrating their fire on the Executor. After the Rebel fleet knocks out the shields protecting the bridge, Piett commands his men to increase firepower to keep anything from getting through. A disabled A-wing fighter then makes a kamikaze maneuver into the Executor's bridge, with Piett and Commander Gherant diving into the lower command deck. The incapacitated Destroyer then plunges into the Death Star, exploding in a plume of flame, as Piett meets his demise.^[5]