Lit Star Wars: Squadrons and Alphabet Squadron in-depth story breakdown

Okay, so I know that this game and book series more or less take place at 0-1 years after Endor, but after looking around online, I have so far come up empty on a breakdown as to exactly what segments -- chapter by chapter -- might coincide with game events and vice versa. I have owned Squadrons and the whole paperback set of the Alphabet Squadron Trilogy for nigh on two years now and have yet to begin either one (other than a couple of trial runs through Squadrons on the tutorial/intro chapters.)

Did anybody read the books while playing the game and take not of specific events along the timeline of the stories? If so, I'd love to recreate that when I delve in. I prefer to do it in the moment rather than afterward. My OCD and all.

 

This is a start.

Does anybody have some page numbers and specifics?

 

Alphabet is referenced in Squadrons cosmetics,and I think Vanguard squadron might get an off hand mention in one of the Alphabet books but I can't remember which.

 

I'm talking about a timeline of the book trilogy (and the Aftermath Trilogy by proxy) in relation to specific missions in Squadrons. Or does the Squadrons campaign more or less entirely take place prior to the Alphabet Squadron (and Aftermath) book series?

Times like this is when I miss Nathan Butler's Star Wars Timeline PDF. (RIP.)

 

It really was a stunning work.

I've never played Squadrons (don't think this machine could run it) so my timeline sheet only includes the Aftermath-Alphabet Squadron intersection. I'll try to avoid spoilers for this thread since you haven't read it yet. When I came up with my dates, I assumed a 365-day, 7-day week calendar.

Spoiler

Alphabet Squadron Chapter 1 occurs the same week that Operation Cinder launches, which is 17 days after the Battle of Endor. Chapter 2 opens around 40 days after the Battle of Endor. The book's narrative continues for about another month or so.

Aftermath opens 3 months after the Battle of Endor. The last chapter is at about 4-5 months ABE. Life Debt picks up around 5 months ABE. Shadow Fall chapters 1-12 can be sandwiched between chapters 15-16 of Life Debt, and then LD Chapter 21 is followed by SF Chapters 13-22. LD Chapters 22-42 run until the end of the year.

Victory's Price picks up at 11 months after the Battle of Endor. Most of VP and Aftermath: Empire's End run almost perfectly concurrently. The Battle of Jakku occurs exactly 369 days after the Battle of Endor, or 12 months and 4 days.

If there were transcripts online of Squadrons dialog that references days/weeks/months after Endor or Operation Cinder or other landmark events, I could potentially slice up the missions to intersect with book events. Unfortunately, I have yet to find such a transcript.

 

Thanks a bunch, Golboco! This gets the ball running further and helps me place sections within my own post-Endor timeline. I saw your initial post from Reddit (just before I posted here), from about two years back, so your username here stood out.

 

Glad to hear it! I think I'm about due for uploading a new copy to the web, there just haven't been any major revisions since my last go. But, depending on how this thread goes, I hope to include Squadrons in it!

 

The very first mission of Squadrons takes place almost immediately after the destruction of Alderaan, possibly even before the Battle of Yavin. The game then jumps forward to after Endor, and at that point everything seems to happen in very quick succession. I never got the feeling more than a few days at most passed between missions, so once Hera leaves the Alphabet Squadron books for a bit I'd say the entire campaign (barring the first mission) happens in one big chunk.

We also know it has to take place while Sloane is an Admiral, but not yet a Grand Admiral due to her uniform's appearance.

 

Thanks, Ewoklord!

Here's a rough timeline of what I have so far, including connected side-stories like Shattered Empire (just the "in-between"/relevant issues) and Blade Squadron content. You guys go over this and suggest any notes, changes, or additional references. I'd really like to pin this period down and have this thread be a resource for everybody, not just me.

The Alphabet Squadron Trilogy - Alphabet Squadron (Chapter 1) (Note: This takes place 17 days after the Battle of Endor.)
The Alphabet Squadron Trilogy - Alphabet Squadron (Chapters 2-23) (This begins 40 days after the Battle of Endor.)

Shattered Empire #3 (3 months after the Battle of Endor)
Shattered Empire #4 (3 months after the Battle of Endor)
"Turning Point" short story (from Star Wars Insider #169)
"Blade Squadron - Zero Hour" short story (from Star Wars Insider #160)
"Hare-Brained Heist" (from Star Wars Adventures Annual 2019)

Aftermath Trilogy - Aftermath (3-5 months after the Battle of Endor)

Uprising mobile game (3-10 months after the Battle of Endor)
Star Wars: Squadrons (main campaign; 5 months after the Battle of Endor)

Aftermath Trilogy - Life Debt (Chapters 1-15; 5 months after the Battle of Endor)

"Blade Squadron - Kuat" short story (from Star Wars Insider #168) (concurrent with Aftermath - Left Debt?)

The Alphabet Squadron Trilogy - Shadow Fall (Chapters 1-12)
Aftermath Trilogy - Life Debt (Chapters 16-21)
The Alphabet Squadron Trilogy - Shadow Fall (Chapters 13-22)
Aftermath Trilogy - Life Debt (Chapters 22-42; 6 to 10 months after the Battle of Endor)
--
The Alphabet Squadron Trilogy - Victory's Price (11-12 months after the Battle of Endor)
Aftermath Trilogy - Empire's End (11-12 months after the Battle of Endor)

 

Hmm. If Sloane is not yet Grand Admiral during Squadrons but parts of Squadrons intersect with Shadow Fall, then I probably need to move Shadow Fall backwards and decouple it from Life Debt. Rae Sloane becomes Grand Admiral fairly early on in Life Debt's narrative, doesn't she?

 

I wasn't aware that the campaign intersected with Shadow Fall. Okay. Some workarounds are needed.

Doing a text-search of the eBook of Life Debt, the first mention of Sloane as a Grand Admiral is from Chapter 3:

"Sloane stands in the center of a glowing blue circle and speaks to the galaxy. 'This is Grand Admiral Rae Sloane, commander of the Imperial Navy and de facto leader of the Galactic Empire.'"

 

Looks like it's time for me to reread Shadow Fall too. I'll probably have to find a playthrough of Squadrons on YouTube, or maybe I can check the Timelines guidebook that came out last year and see if it has anything relevant.

 

The other thing I'd add is Battlefront II's campaign, which intersects a lot here too. The prologue and first mission take place during RotJ, then missions 2 through 6 run concurrently with the first three issues of Shattered Empire, with mission 5/6 and issue 3 depicting the same events from different perspectives.

Then there's a jump, with mission 7 tying directly into the events of Life Debt, as it's about Han searching for info on Kashyyyk. I'd say it's probably between Aftermath and Life Debt. Mission 8 directly follows that, then there's another time jump.

Mission 9 happens right before the Battle of Jakku, so is probably happening concurrently with the beginning of Shadow Fall and Empire's End, and then Mission 10 is the battle itself, happening during the climax of both novels.

 

Luckily I've played Battlefront II's campaign (albeit in full just once), so I have fairly extensive notes on when those missions take place.

Man, between just these books and games (and Shattered Empire), the year after RotJ is like the most "stuffed" point in the timeline next to, say, 0-3 ABY or the Clone Wars. I think it took Legends upwards of 20 years to fill the same time period with pretty much just Marvel #81-107, the Rogue Squadron comics, The Truce At Bakura, the Trioculous Saga, Shadows of the Empire: Evolution, and Dark Forces II. (And then obviously later on things like Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor.)

I'll adjust some more things in my notes and post more details later. I might just bite the bullet and play Squadrons now, and then later do a re-play in the midst of the Aftermath and Alphabet Squadron books and see how it properly connects. If not otherwise done by anyone else, I will be the one to do a page-by-page breakdown and share it here.

 

Actually, I got the impression Alphabet Squadron was more like 2 to 4 months post Endor, from what I read. Cinder was at it's height from 17 days to about 90 days post Endor, but it may also have continued at a lower level, at times. Still, it seems to be largely over, by the time of the main novel.

Aftermath book 1 is about four months post Endor, although I initially (from a One Canon viewpoint) preferred about six, instead.
Life Debt is two months later, and spans two months. Whilst Empire's End spans 11 to 12 months after Endor.

Shadow Fall is apparently a couple of months or more post Alphabet Squadron, and also directly mentions Squadrons' plotline about halfway through the book, with Hera away aiding in the missions in the game, with Vanguard Squadron. The book spans a month or more, seemingly.

So Shadow Fall, Life Debt and Squadrons should all overlap each other, fairly closely.

Plus, there's the Battle at Fondor to throw in somewhere - the second one, in the Adventures graphic novels, I believe.

Oh, and Hera's cruiser is an MC75, yeah...

 

These basic reminders and notes are all good and great, but the real meat that we need is actual page numbers, quotes, and concrete references. That is what I'll be doing...whenever I actually get to the book(s) and game. (I'm currently working through Jedi: Survivor and a few other things at the moment.)