Yavin to Hoth revisited...

There are quite a lot of stories taking place in the three years between the
battles of Yavin and Hoth featuring Luke Leia, and company. This has lead
to been a great many attempts, both official and fan based to tie them all
together in a reasonable chronological order, but a really complete and
flowing look at the activities of the heroes of Yavin has yet to be had.
The Marvel and newspaper comics make up a large part of this period, as do
the Galaxy of Fear books and a huge number of computer games, but more
obscure sources, of which there are a great many, tend to fall by the
wayside. With this in mind, I have begun to write what I hope is a
reasonably complete look at the adventures of the "Star Warriors" (as they
were called in the early comics) in the years between A New Hope and The
Empire Strikes Back. In doing so, I have used both official sources and fan
made timelines to place the stories and events, and I have also contributed
in this area. (Strum, Valiento and Maverick have been of great help in
placing the pre-Vader's Quest stories, and I have consulted Timetales
summeries of the stories I don't have access to.)

A few words on the organization of this project, while all non-Infinities
stories including or effecting either the Star Warriors or Darth Vader
should be touched upon (and please let me know if I've missed any), I will
not be summarizing the exact details and events of each story. There is
also a small bit of fan fiction in the project, but this will be used only
to tie together otherwise unrelated events and stories. Since most of the
material was produced without an exact timeline in mind, and in some cases
decades apart, some fan fictional ties are needed to make the events flow.
Those framilure with this period should be able to pick out my additions. A
major addition in the second part is the tying of the unresolved Imperial spy
plot from the Science Adventure series into the events that follow. This
will continue into the sections dealing with the SW Kids comics.

With that said, here are the first part and second parts of my project.
This covers the Day After the Death Star, Missions #1-4, Science Adventures,
the Maverick Moon, Marvel #50, and leads into the Marvel and Pizazz series.

Part I: Aftermath of Yavin

The Rebel Alliance was allowed a brief respite after the Battle of Yavin.
No one had expected the Rebels to actually defeat the Death Star battle
station, and as Empire waited in vain for word from the Yavin system, the
Rebels celebrated their victory on Yavin IV. Lord Darth Vader attempted to
reach an Imperial outpost where his TIE fighter could be repaired, but his
weakened craft was attacked by the forces of the treacherous
Governor-General Vellam.

Nevertheless, the situation on Yavin was a precarious one. Many Imperial
personal were stranded on Yavin when the Death Star blew, such as Colonel
Veers and the pilot Qorl. While these isolated Imperials were not much
threat to the Alliance, they could be a danger to the personal of the Rebel
base. The naturalist Dr?uun Unnh was killed by a falling TIE fighter during
the battle, and Luke Skywalker was set upon by a downed Imperial pilot the
day after. This, and the fact that most of their best pilots and fighters
had gone down during the battle, caused the Alliance to be cautious.

Unfortunately, the plans of Grand Moff Tarkin had not perished with the
Death Star. One of these schemes involved Admiral Termo and his Star
Destroyer, the Liquidator. When Termo failed to hear back from Yavin, an
agent was dispatched to the system to locate Tarkin.

Taking the cautious route, the Rebels choose not to send out attack craft
when the Carrack class cruiser of Captain Skeezer entered the Yavin system,
hoping the ship would pass them by. Han Solo had other ideas, and, after a
pitched battle, the cruiser crashed in the jungles of Yavin. The capture
and interrogation of Skeezer led to the discovery of a plan of Tarkin?s to
control hyperspace. The heroes of Yavin were

 

What do you mean about this moon blasted out of orbit by an unknown force?

 

You forgot the poisioned bacta, the plan to control hyperspace, and the Gruba the Hutt mishap.


Beware The Lidless Eye!!!

 

Uh, guys...That's the first part. He said he's writing the other sections.

Looks good. I like it. As far as I can tell, it lines up almost exactly like my own timeline, as I haven't progressed past the first couple weeks of Yavin. ( Been quite some time since I worked on it. )

What about the line in the EC, which stated that Vader discovered Luke a month after Yavin? Mav pointed out that the previous stories couldn't have squeezed into a month - and the thing about Valance being on Centares for a couple weeks seems to reinforce this, at face value - but I don't see how that can be ignored, and I think it is possible. That's what I was trying to do...Have a day-by-day timeline. I just don't have all of the sources to chronicle it.

 

>What do you mean about this moon blasted out of orbit by an unknown force?

Luke's time in the New Academy for Space Pilots is drawn from The Maverick Moon, a little-known children's picture book published in 1978, which I happen to own. In the story, a moon in a nearby system with a powerful magnetic field was blasted out of orbit. No one knew how or why, and it was never explained in the book. I *could* have come up with an explanation for it, but that's more fan fiction then I was willing to put in the document.

>You forgot the poisioned bacta, the plan to control hyperspace, and the Gruba the Hutt mishap.

As I said, I didn't want to go into too much detial when writing about the stories (Timetales has that covered nicely.) I felt that the plot to control hyperspace overshadowed the poisoned bacta, which was only a means to an end. I *did* include the hyperspace plot in Part I. Grubba comes later, as you will see.

>What about the line in the EC, which stated that Vader discovered Luke a month after Yavin?

I'm working on a fix for that. If it was limited to the EC, we could just say that the historians had been in error. However, there is (so I've been told) a line in Vader's Quest that gives the one month date.

>Mav pointed out that the previous stories couldn't have squeezed into a month - and the thing about >Valance being on Centares for a couple weeks seems to reinforce this, at face value

Exactly, and there are many other lines in Marvel that indicate that more than a month had passed. Right now I'm thinking that it's a month after something else, like Darth Vader's Return or Imperial Spy.

>- but I don't see how that can be ignored, and I think it is possible. That's what I was trying to >do...Have a day-by-day timeline. I just don't have all of the sources to chronicle it.

Hmm... From what I've seen so far, I don't think it's possible to fit them all into a month, but I don't really know. Some of the stories don't take long at all; the first four Missions books only cover about a two-day period. Do you have any of the Pizazz comics?

TC

 

TC: "May the Force be with you. You're gonna need it."

 

The Pizzazz comics and a few other obscure things are pretty much all I'm missing. And I only have some of the Star Wars Kids comic strips. Some in hand, and some scanned.

I'm not kidding when I say it's possible to fit everything in a month. Especially if you place things like the Maverick Moon later, and only use things that were confirmed as happening shortly after Yavin, like the Marvel comics, Missions etc.

As for Valance on Centares, he could've been there for two Centares weeks, which could be shorter than Standard weeks.

But I'm open to the idea of the EC being wrong, if it just can't be worked out. But I'd rather try and prove it right, first.

 

Here you go!

1 day ASW4
- Marvel Illustrated Book: The Day after the Death Star
- Missions # 1: Assault on Yavin 4
- Missions # 2: Escape from Thyferra (pg. 3 ? 13)
2 days ASW4
- Missions # 2: Escape from Thyferra (pg. 13 ? 74)
- Darksaber (pg. 34 ? 38)
- Missions # 3: Attack on Delrakkin
- Missions # 4: Destroy the Liquidator (pg. 3 ? 69)
3 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 7: New Planets, New Perils (pg. 1 ? 6)
- Pizzazz: The Keeper?s World
4 days ASW4
Pizzazz: World of Ice
- A Long Time Ago # 7: New Planets, New Perils (pg. 7 ? 17)
- A Long Time Ago # 8: Eight for Aduba-3 (pg. 1 ? 15)
5 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 8: Eight for Aduba-3 (pg. 15 ? 17)
- A Long Time Ago # 9: Showdown on a Wasteland World
- A Long Time Ago # 10: Behemoth from the World Below
- A Long Time Ago # 11: Star Search
- A Long Time Ago # 12: Doomworld
- A Long Time Ago # 13: Day of the Dragon Lords (pg. 1 ? 6)
1 week ASW4
6 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 13: Day of the Dragon Lords (pg. 6 ? 17)
- A Long Time Ago # 14: The Sound of Armageddon
- A Long Time Ago # 15: Star Duel
- A Long Time Ago # 24: Silent Drifting
7 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 70: The Stenax Shuffle (pg. 5 ? 14)
8 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 70: The Stenax Shuffle (pg. 14 ? 19)
9 days ASW4
10 days ASW4
2 weeks ASW4
11 days ASW4
12 days ASW4
13 days ASW4
14 days ASW4
15 days ASW4
3 weeks ASW4
16 days ASW4
17 days ASW4
18 days ASW4
19 days ASW4
20 days ASW4
4 weeks ASW4
21 days ASW4
22 days ASW4
23 days ASW4
24 days ASW4
25 days ASW4
5 weeks ASW4
26 days ASW4
27 days ASW4
28 days ASW4
29 days ASW4
30 days ASW4
6 weeks ASW4
31 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 16: The Hunter (pg. 1 ? 5)
32 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 16: The Hunter (pg. 4 ? 6)
33 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 16: The Hunter (pg. 7 ? 17)
34 days ASW4
35 days ASW4
1 month ASW4
7 weeks ASW4
36 days ASW4
- Scoundrel?s Luck (1, 10, 5, 27, 54)
37 days ASW4
- The Early Adventures # 4: Tatooine Sojourn (pg. 1 ? 3)
38 days ASW4
- The Early Adventures # 4: Tatooine Sojourn (pg. 3 ? 15)
39 days ASW4
- The Early Adventures # 4: Tatooine Sojourn (pg. 16 ? 26)
40 days ASW4
- Scoundrel?s Luck (54, 45, 49, 9, 79, 7, 61, 57, 42, 72, 99)
8 weeks ASW4
41 days ASW4
- Scoundrel?s Luck (99, 117)
42 days ASW4
- Scoundrel?s Luck (117, 67, 71, 76, 125, 89)
43 days ASW4
44 days ASW4
45 days ASW4
- Scoundrel?s Luck (144, 110, 85, 109, 101, 118, 102, 142, 119)
9 weeks ASW4
46 days ASW4
- Kids: The Rebel Thief (pg. 1 ? 16)
- Missions # 9: Revolt of the Battle Droids
- Missions # 10: Showdown in Mos Eisley (pg. 3 ? 4)
47 days ASW4
- Kids: The Rebel Thief (pg. 17 ? 20)
- Missions # 10: Showdown in Mos Eisley (pg. 5 ? 70)
- Missions # 11: Bounty Hunters vs. Battle Droids
48 days ASW4
- Missions # 12: The Vactooine Disaster
49 days ASW4
- Kids: X-Wing Marks the Spot
- Kids: The Imperial Spy (pg. 1 ? 16)
50 days ASW4
- Kids: The Imperial Spy (pg. 17 ? 20)
10 weeks ASW4
51 days ASW4
52 days ASW4
53 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 18: The Empire Strikes
- A Long Time Ago # 19: The Ultimate Gamble (pg. 1 ? 13)
54 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 19: The Ultimate Gamble (pg. 13 ? 17)
- A Long Time Ago # 20: Death Game
- A Long Time Ago # 21: Shadow of a Dark Lord
- A Long Time Ago # 22: To the Last Gladiator
- A Long Time Ago # 23: Flight Into Fury
55 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 25: Siege at Yavin
- A Long Time Ago # 26: Doom Mission
11 weeks ASW4
56 days ASW4
57 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 27: Return of the Hunter
58 days ASW4
59 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 28: Whatever Happened to Jabba the Hut?
60 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 29: Dark Encounter
- A Long Time Ago # 30: A Princess Alone
12 weeks ASW4
61 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 31: Return to Tatooine
62 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 32: The Jawa Express
- A Long Time Ago # 33: Saber Clash (pg. 1 ? 5)
63 days ASW4
- A Long Time Ago # 33: Saber Clash (pg. 5 ? 17)
- A Long Time Ago # 34: Thunder in

 

HOLY HELL!!!
How in the world are you so knowlagable?!!

 

I'm just that good. ;-)

I believe that's all the Han/Luke/Leia stories that occur during those 6 months

 

Wait...Why're the Rogue Squadron missions so long after ANH? They should be roughly 6 months after Yavin, and concurrent with Dark Forces.

 

They are at 6 months after Yavin...just late 6 months because they have to take place after the evacuation of yavin.

Note, that this timeline is based on the 7 week month, 5 day week Coruscant calendar.

 

Ah, now I see. I glanced over it, and thought it was covering the full time until ESB. Yeah, I also use Coruscant time in my timeline.

Still working on the rest of it?

 

"Ah, now I see. I glanced over it, and thought it was covering the full time until ESB. Yeah, I also use Coruscant time in my timeline.

Still working on the rest of it?"

Oh yes. It's coming along. The only sections of the timeline that are as detailed as that (IE: day by day) are:

- The 4 months or so before A New Hope.
- The 3 months before AotC.
- The month before TPM.

The rest of it, for the most part (even 7 months ABY and beyond) are all in month format.

It is coming along though, despite pesky school getting in the way.

 

Mav,

About weeks 19-20...

I thought Dark Lord's Gambit and Vader's Quest occured simultaneously?!? ?

 

I'm of the opinion that Marvel # 35 - 37 take place BEFORE Vader's Quest, as Luke's reaction to Vader in Marvel seems to indicate this being their first encounter since the Battle of Yavin.

Also, perhaps in VQ, Vader is simply trying to back up the claim that Luke is his son.

 

Vader's Quest takes place a month after SW4 because Luke says so. It wasn't made up by the EC - it is stated by a main character in the comic. Therefore, it could not have taken place 20 weeks after ANH.

 

"Vader's Quest takes place a month after SW4 because Luke says so. It wasn't made up by the EC - it is stated by a main character in the comic. Therefore, it could not have taken place 20 weeks after ANH."

Luke's generalizing...besides, it cant take place a month after A New Hope, simply because too many stories take place before it to make that possible. The Marvel series, Scoundrel's luck, much of the Goodwin/Williamson run...it cant work...as it stands, its only just over 2 months after Yavin by my timeline..


Also, Luke never says "one month since Yavin"...he says he's "rescued a lot of hologram princesses in the last month"

While yes, this would seem to insinuate his rescue of Leia, perhaps some other event occured in the last month that he might be referring to? It is possible to find a way around certain things...

 

Does Luke actually see Vader in VQ though? I don't remember the exact chain of events, but I think Luke was blind at the time. Vader's reaction in Quest to the name "Skywalker" seems much more... well, psychotic than in Marvel, as though the Marvel issue was the confirmation of his name and not the reverse. I dunno, just tossing out theories

 

>I'm not kidding when I say it's possible to fit everything in a month. Especially if you place things >like the Maverick Moon later, and only use things that were confirmed as happening shortly after >Yavin, like the Marvel comics, Missions etc.

Well, aside from the logistical nightmare of trying to fit all of the Marvel issues, Missions, and Pizazz into a single month, and Valence's remarks, there's Jimm and Merri. In the final issue of the Eight for Aduba arc, Merri is just beginning to pay attention to Jimm. In issue #16, they're married (and look older, but I'm willing to chalk that up to artistic license) and are expecting their first child! That's quite a stretch to fit into the two or two and a half months that it could take place in, without limiting it to much less than a month!

Mavrick: wow, I had no idea that you were so far along. Could I tap you for a summery of the framing story for Weapon's Master? Timetales doesn't seem to have it. Also, you've placed Rage in the Red Nebula at 69-70 days after Yavin. Timetales has it in the month before Yavin, and I've moved it all the way back to the week after the battle, so it can run concurrently with Science Adventures and Luke's time in the New Academy. Is there anything in the story to contradict that placement?

A final word on the "month after Yavin" date for Vader's Quest, I'm now confident that it can be fixed. I'll be putting it at one month after Darth Vader's Return, which I believe should work (if it won't, please let me know,) and I'll be phrasing it so as to save the lines from the Essential Chronology.

TC

 

Don't forget that Splinters of the Mind's Eye took place during the time between Yavin and Hoth too.

 

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

So, how about it, Mavrick?

TC

 

"Mavrick: wow, I had no idea that you were so far along. Could I tap you for a summery of the framing story for Weapon's Master? Timetales doesn't seem to have it. Also, you've placed Rage in the Red Nebula at 69-70 days after Yavin. Timetales has it in the month before Yavin, and I've moved it all the way back to the week after the battle, so it can run concurrently with Science Adventures and Luke's time in the New Academy. Is there anything in the story to contradict that placement?"



Well, my copy is at home, but from what I remember, Luke and Leia were on a diplomatic mission, and they get betrayed by those they were trying to win over to the Rebellion. The Empire ambushes them, and Luke is impressed with Leia's aim. She then tells him about how she learned to shoot.

As for Rage in the Red Nebula...I no longer have it early in the timeline, because I solved the problem of Han's disapearing and reappearing reward money. I have it during one of the several breaks during the 6 month period. As for the placement of "The Maverick Moon," wouldnt it make more sense for Luke to be working with pilots during the time of the Rogue Squadron game?

 

>Well, my copy is at home, but from what I remember, Luke and Leia were on a diplomatic >mission, and they get betrayed by those they were trying to win over to the Rebellion. The Empire >ambushes them, and Luke is impressed with Leia's aim. She then tells him about how she learned >to shoot.

Does it say what planet it is? The Ultimate Timeline guy seems to think that it's the mission from Splinter, but I can't get that confirmed.

>As for Rage in the Red Nebula...I no longer have it early in the timeline, because I solved the >problem of Han's disapearing and reappearing reward money.

I saw that in the placement of the stories, it is *excellent*, and will save a *lot* of headaches. I'm assuming from the placement of stories on your timeline that Han's original reward was stolen by Crimson Jack, and that he later gave his reward money from Marvel #70 back to the Alliance, as per the Rebel Thief comic, but I'm not clear on how the money in Scoundrel's Luck fits into the picture. Do you think that you could clarify that?

>I have it during one of the several breaks during the 6 month period.

But is there anything to contradict a placement of just after ANH? Is Han's reward mentioned at all? (Not that your placement is incorrect, just wondering.)

>As for the placement of "The Maverick Moon," wouldnt it make more sense for Luke to be >working with pilots during the time of the Rogue Squadron game?

I wouldn't say that it would make *more* sense, but I would say that it makes just *as* much sense. The reason I placed it where I did is due to numerous mentions of the Rebellion recruiting pilots as a top priority after the battle of Yavin, (as well as several assumptions on my own part.) These came in all over the place, from Marvel to Missions to the SW Kids comics. This placement also (for me) answers that annoying, age-old question: "Why the heck does Luke wear his Tatooine clothes all the time in the pre-TESB time period?!" (Yes, yes, I know the real life explanation, but...) In one scene, Academy students are shown wearing an outfit identical to Luke's. So I figure that, in all the comics that follow ANH, Luke isn't wearing his boring old moisture farmer outfit, he's wearing his New Academy uniform, which happens to look a lot like said boring old moisture farmer outfit. In addition, I needed something for Luke to do while the droids were off having Science Adventures, and Luke is really very much a fresh student in Maverick Moon. By Rouge Squadron, he's flown everything from a TIE fighter to a winged snake.

That said, placing the story during Rouge Squadron would also work, it just worked out better this way for my timeline. Until we get an official placement (ha, ha!) it's up in the air.

TC

 

Here they are, parts III and IV. Nothing much to add here; there was little conjecture involved. For the most part, this covers the first few story arcs of the Marvel series, as well as the Pizzazz serials. I've also tossed a few bits in from Gamer to help fill in character backgrounds. I couldn't resist stealing titles of Marvel comics for the section titles again, that's something I'll probably change down the line.

Part III: Flight into Fury

Unfortunately, the Falcon was set upon by space pirates before it even left the Gordian Reach. The pirates, led by Crimson Jack, plundered the Falcon?s holds, leaving the two star hoppers without a decicred to their names. With a heavy heart, Han set a course for Aduba-3, a remote Rim world where the two could hopefully raise funds while hiding out from Jabba?s bounty hunters.

Meanwhile, Luke and Leia?s mission had not gotten off to a good start. Their Rebel transport flew completely off course, thanks to a malfunctioning Artoo Detoo, who had broken down due to faulty repairs made after the Yavin battle. After some complications and Imperial entanglements, Luke, Leia, and the droids arrived at Akuria II, only to be shot down by TIE fighters. A battle with Imperial forces ensued, but in the end the local Rebel leader, Colonel Odan, and the natives agreed to join the Alliance. Luke, Leia and the droids returned to Yavin, their mission a success.

Would that things had gone as well for Han Solo and Chewbacca. The former smugglers had gotten into a brawl their first day on Aduba, which was swiftly followed by another fight at the local cantina. Still, luck finally turned its head once more to the downtrodden smugglers. The pair was hired by a village of farmers to defend their crops and women from a group of Cloud-Riders, led by former swoop jockey Seji-X Arrogantus. In turn, Chewbacca and Han hired other down on their luck spacers to aid in the battle, including the spinner Hedji, the former pirate chief Amaiza, the Lepi Jaxxon, as well as native Jimm, his robot Effie, and the demented Hess Korrin, who had taken to calling himself ?Don-Wan Kihotay? and claiming to be of the Jedi Order.

Meanwhile, events moved quickly on the Fourth moon of Yavin. With Darth Vader still unaccounted for, the Rebel leaders knew that Yavin base must soon be evacuated. Perpetrations had begun almost immediately after the Death Star?s defeat, and Luke Skywalker was chosen by Dodonna to scout for a new base location. Princess Leia whished to accompany Luke, but the events of the Akuria mission only more firmly convinced General Dodonna that the Princess should remain safely at the base. Leia would help to fill the role that her father once held, as a leader and a symbol.

When Han and his band of ?sprites?, as he came to call them, arrived (with some complications) at the Aduban village, Luke Skywalker contacted Alliance Command, much to the relief of the princess Leia. He believed that he had found a suitable location for the new base, a planet in the Drexel system, but his message was cut short, and the Rebels were unable reestablish contact. Leia set out on her own to find out what had happened to the young Jedi-to-be.

On Aduba, it was not Han and his ?sprites? who defeated Serji-X, but a mysterious behemoth, created a thousand years before by Sith Seviss Vaa, who was summoned from below by a native shaman. The monster killed Seji-X, but also destroyed the shaman who controlled it by accident, and Han Solo used Kihotay?s lightsaber to kill the creature before it could reek havoc on the village. The remaining sprites collected the payment that was due them, and Han and Chewbacca departed the planet.

Part IV: Doomworld

The smugglers decided that, rather than running from one rim world to another, they would take their chances rejoining their friends at Yavin. Dropping out or hyperspace just shy of the system, they ran into Crimson Jack once more. Chewbacca and Han were captured, but they planned to lead Jack to Yavin so that the pirate?s stolen Star Destroye