Routine

Routine is an 8-page comic that featured in Star Wars Tales #2 and Star Wars Collectible Bonus Magazine. It was written by Tony Isabella. The story takes place in 5 BBY.

Plot summary


The Vigilant, an Imperial ship under the control of Captain Deyd Llnewe on border patrol duties, stops a Corellian corvette called Jaina's Light piloted by Han Solo. Llnewe orders Lieutenant Raprice to perform a Level One search of the ship but he finds nothing.

The next time Jaina's Light crosses the Vigilant's patrol route, Llnewe orders a Level Two inspection, as he is sure there is more to Solo than meets the eye. The inspection once again shows nothing suspicious.

The third time the Vigilant intercepts the Jaina's Light, Captain Llnewe, frustrated, demands a Level Five inspection, but his orthodox suboordinate, Lieutenant Raprice, counsels the captain not to abandon their normal duties on a suspicion. Jaina's Light is cleared to leave, but Captain Llnewe realizes that they have inspected three different ships, not one, and Solo is smuggling spaceships, not cargo. The Vigilant opens fire on Solo but he is long gone by then.

Background Information
There is a strong similarity between the story and an old parable about a man who is seen pushing a wheelbarrow full of some worthless material (sawdust in some versions, straw in others) away from the factory where he works every night. His employers, suspicious, search the wheelbarrow for something illicit being stolen or smuggled, and, when they find nothing, puzzle over what use he could have for straw or sawdust. It is not until much later that they realize that what he is stealing are wheelbarrows.

Roger Ebert quoted the parable in his "Great Movies" essay on Steven Spielberg's film Schindler's List, in describing how Oskar Schindler's Nazi masters puzzle over how Schindler's new factory scheme with Jewish workers is supposed to be making him money, and it never occurs to them that he is in fact, spending his war earnings to save Jews.