A young TIE pilot speaks with Yoda and gains insight about the Imperial leadership.

It's just a young Imperial TIE pilot who has landed on Dagobah-- but not Luke! He had some problems with his TIE fighter and he met Yoda. In this story Yoda is a "follower of Nietzsche"-- he is above good and evil! :-)

The story just for amusement! No money, no glory, etc, etc...

Of course, everything belongs to George Lucas and Lucasfilm.

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So, this is "The Revelation".

I started this conversation. "Yoda," I said to the elder, "Let's talk about Admiral Piett. I know that knowledge is power. I want to have this power. Let's talk about his terrible start and swift rising.

"Four shadows stand on the way of my imagination. This is Grand Moff Tarkin. His sharp mind and ruthless frankness could open any doors in this dangerous labyrinth of life. This is General Veers. Couldn't the steel of his deeds withstand comparison to the quiet and flexible wisdom of Admiral Piett? Let's look at Admiral Motti-- the violent nature of this man had everything that it is necessary to hold sway over. And why was that ingratiating, intelligent and cautious 'dandy'-- Grand Moff Jerjerrod-- not able to make out the shining of a rising new star? Why was only Admiral Piett able to go up the tricky and deadly dangerous stairs to the peak? Why did the others lose?"

Sitting on the stony roots of an ancient tree, the old Jedi-master kept silence. Green quiet of ancient hills and marshes extended in front of us. First-stars lit the evening sky and a cold mist slowly started to drag toward us from low-lying river land. The person who thirsts for an answer must arm himself with patience. An importance befits to the person who possesses the knowledge. Therefore old Yoda kept silence.

After a long time he said: "Why him? Do you really want to know, why him and not them? Well, my young friend, try to forget for some time that your body is wounded and aching, that your TIE is malfunctioning and despondency settles down very comfortably in your soul for a long time. Good. Now imagine to yourself that you are full of life and energy. You are able to perform supposedly-impossible missions. Your friends and your enemies alike recognize the superiority of your mind, with their teeth clenched. You can say to bounty hunters, 'We don't need this scum!' and they swallow it in silence. You can give any woman a night after which she will pronounce your name like a sacred incantation. It seems like there is nothing impossible for you. But-- you have your leader-- the Dark Lord-- Darth Vader. You want to live and be happy with your life, but he makes you die twenty times in a day. He can stop your heart at any moment. Or take your breathing away from you. It just depends on his mood in any moment. What would you do in a situation like this? You would do nothing. But Admiral Piett did something. That is why he is Emperor now, and you are sitting with me here, young man, listening the story of his life. He-- Admiral Piett-- went to Vader, who was then the same as he is now, looking at the world through the black lenses of his mask. It happened after the death of Admiral Ozzel and the misfortune with Captain Needa. Captain Needa was lucky--he was still alive after that. Vader damaged his health, but he survived.

"Then Admiral Piett went to Lord Vader. The admiral walked along the wide corridor and people looked at him with sorrow. They knew where he was walking to, and why, and everybody was sure they were seeing their admiral alive for the last time. They were only wondering how long his agony would be. Piett passed the corridor, crossed the hall with guard and entered into the darkness-- Abandon hope, ye who enter here. Certainly he thought about it before entering.

"He found Vader sitting alone-- enormous, fossilized, motionless, with light shining black on his helmet. That awful mask turned to the admiral. 'Well, have you come to me to keep silence, Admiral?'

"'No, my Lord,' said that small admiral with the amazingly quiet and strong voice. 'I came to talk to you.'

"'Very well,' and Lord Vader locked the door. 'I am listening to you, Admiral.'

"And Admiral Piett started to talk. He spoke with passion and for a long time. Vader kept silence and listened."

Yoda fell silent then, as if musing Piett's words over in his mind. He was silent, just as Vader must have been.

I said, "May I know what it was that Piett said?"

Yoda roused himself, and took up the thread of his narrative.

"What Piett said? It was something like this-- 'There is no need to ruin the prestige of Imperial power with absolutely unnecessary murders; the Rebels manage quite successfully with their Rebel propaganda and there is no need to help them with it. It is not enough to get unlimited power by the will of fate. There is also a need to have a great mind, very cold and quiet reason, strong personality and the greatest of self-control, if one wants to be successful in the role of autocrat. And if one wants to be the beloved autocrat-- there is no need to kill the best officers of the Imperial forces in moments of wrathwhich pass very soon. The dead men will be dead men forever, and the relatives of executed people will have such hatred for the executioner that it will outlive him and the memory of him.'

"The fury of the Black Lord smashed like glass against deadly resolve and quiet courage of that exceptional man. And Piett achieved his goal. He achieved it, because he was brave and passionate. Passion, like the Great Force itself rules the worlds. That small-statured, quiet, even meek man was also exceptionally passionate and brave.

"Please, eat, my dear guest! Such a very young man--" old Yoda muttered the last words to himself, and held out a clay cup with a steaming fragrant mixture of herbs and roots to me. "Please, eat, listen and put my words into your ears, young man. Enjoy your meal and old Yoda will unfold pages of life of another man in front of you, and this true story is more amazing than any most odd fantasy. Do you want to know, why him and not somebody else?"

The elder continued to talk while turning over coals with his stick. "Just be patient, my friend, and you will know everything. And maybe you will understand something too, about flying between the stars, young man. The admiral was tough, laconic and persistent. The way of his life was chosen and settled by him once and for all. He didn't know any doubt about that way. His attack was always swift and cruel, his defense was wise and careful, compromises to the enemy were full of fine, farsighted calculation and deadly deviousness. He knew extremely well the price of popularity among friends and enemies, and even if he was looking at people with some contempt, he never showed it with any movement of his lips. His manner to lead any conversation was simple yet he behaved himself with amazing dignity at the same time. He didn't like to be at Imperial court, although his rank and place near Lord Vader forced him to do it. The tiresome attention of refined, beautiful women sometimes filled his soul with bitterness and indignation. Usually they were looking at him like he was some kind of miracle. They showered him with greetings and questions, and that lustful curiosity, although it was covered with polite friendliness, insulted his self-respect. He felt as if he was just some kind of rare and deadly dangerous wild animal for them, which was brought into their world by the strange fate and he really had nothing common with that world. Sometimes it drove him to despair. Sometimes even into rage. Unfortunately, his wrath only amused the Dark Lord. But nature gave him an innate sense of tact and it gave rare charm to his treatment of women. Lady B., one of the most beautiful, clever and rich women of the Emperor's court, received him in her 'private court', graciously, but without unctuous and burdensome attention. Everybody knew that just to be invited by this woman was much more difficult than to get an audience with the Emperor himself. That cold, proud beauty, the pride of Imperial court, elegant and arrogant with most noble aristocrats, received him with very simple, friendly and absolutely sincerity. And the heart of that dangerous, brave, clever but very vulnerable man opened up for her. Yes, young man."

The old Jedi looked at me with his strange and dark eyes. "Happiness is not as blind as some people can think. The admiral didn't think about love yet, but to see this lady every day soon became for him like the necessity to breathe. He sought her out everywhere, and every time that meeting was like the gift of fate for him. Of course, the clever woman guessed his feeling before he did himself. With him nearby the lady was cheerful and happy; Without him she was cold and absent-minded. His friend, Captain Needa, first noticed that mutual feeling and congratulated the admiral. The captain's words woke up Piett. The opportunity to have beloved woman suddenly shook his imagination. He fell crazy in love with her. One day he came to her. His face was ashen and dark shadows were under his eyes. He held an enormous bouquet of bloody-red, snow-white and black roses. He entered into her hall and with terrible embarrassment offered his hand and heart to her. His old-fashioned manners were charming. He looked at her as if his life hung between 'yes' or 'no'. And the lady said 'yes'. The color flooded into his cheeks and a shining smile spread across his pale face. The lady accepted his hand. It was a very gentle hand, but the grip of this hand was steel. And lethal. And when that fatal and terrible rout happened on Endor, he found courage to look straight into the eyes of awful and ruthless truth. And then, in that moment, when his heart ached and his brain understood all boundlessness of tragedy, he found the forces inside his soul to stay alive. Yes, young man."

Yoda cast a quick glance on me. "He should kill his former life, but he should live to revive the Empire. And our admiral found strength to do it. He was meek and very polite with all people, so nobody was even able to suspect that this mild, friendly person will be the great and severe reformer of Empire. And his day came. The friendly mask fell down and he showed his new and true face to the world. Even his friends were astonished by this new face of Piett. That was the face of sovereign-- the face of the new Emperor. All of them, even haughty Jerjerrod, bent with great respect before him. The new era of the galaxy has began. But he was the same person for his old friends, even after that. He liked to laugh and he wasn't ashamed to cry. He wasn't ashamed to be just an ordinary human. This is so simple. And that is why he is an Emperor and we are sitting here, watching as blue dusk hides the universe, and are not able to turn away our eyes from the star of his good luck!"

This ancient creature, this small green elf who knew everything about life, and what it is possible to know about it, smiled at me with a sly twinkle in his eyes and put a few dry branches into the burning out fire. Sparks flew off like golden butterflies and sped into the dark sky. The mist rose and hid the world. I thought this night might be the last forever, but millenniums lie ahead. The indication of truth touched me. Something new and good came into our life.

The end.