Telbus Mayne: A Star Wars Story

Act One: No Jedi

TELBUS MAYNE
ACT ONE: NO JEDI

There are a great many stories in the Galaxy, and a great many lessons. Such as a lesson about fear and identity. What is worse? Not knowing who you are? Or finding out, and realizing it was so much more terrible than you could've ever imagined?
Join me, dear readers, as we begin with five simple words.

Telbus Mayne woke up falling.

That is where we begin.
Just like that.
Unceremonious, yes, but sometimes the greatest adventures start off in the most bizarre (or for our hero’s case, painful) ways.
Where were we? Ah, yes. Falling.

A sharp crack signaled his return to solid ground. And did it ever hurt.
His eyes weren't quite working, shadows were all he could see. A sharp ringing and the pain in his chest signalled he was alive, thankfully.

He didn't know how long he lay there before hearing and vision returned to him. He was in an alley on Coruscant, judging from the traffic above him. It was just dusk, although the metropolitan planet’s sky rarely darkened due to the light pollution.
A gunship overhead pulled out of view, engines roaring, searchlights panning across the cityscape.

Telbus sat up, and his breath left him. It was like choking on empty space, the pain from his ribs robbed him of his much needed air. He took another shuddering breath and sat up. He spat onto the duracrete, tasting blood, but knowing full well he wasn't bleeding externally. As he tried to regain his bearings, Telbus realized that perhaps it wasn't his body that was damaged, but his mind. It wasn't about what was there, but what wasn't there. He couldn't remember… much of anything at all, exactly.

Feeling brave, he stood. It did not hurt as much, but shock was wearing off, and with it, his adrenaline. He took a step. Good. Nothing broken in his legs. As he took his second step, his foot struck something metal. Looking down, he saw what appeared to be a power cell, with bits of red glass among it. Broken beyond recognition, no doubt. Probably some old scrappy blaster parts. Walking onward, he stepped into the street. It was rather quiet, only a few others nearby. Nobody seemed to have noticed his sudden arrival, or maybe they were used to people surviving falls from great heights.

He was on a lower level of Coruscant, near the lava flows, judging from the heat. He pulled off the cloak he had been wearing, taking notice of a few cuts in the fabric. There were no pockets, nothing else. Odd. How could he not remember?

Of the few memories he had left, Telbus knew that he would need a place to stay for the evening, lest some more unsavory characters found him alone.
And so off he set, a blank slate, ready to make his mark… if he survived his first night.

It was a small apartment, but it would do. Telbus Mayne had no credits, but a cantina owner agreed to let him sleep there in exchange for his work as a bartender the next day. The bed was hard and his dreams were bleak and unhelpful. Turns out there's not much to dream of when you don't have any memory.

Republic Soldiers patrolled the streets frequently, their heavy blasters generally keeping most people from asking them about the patrols. Those who did ask were told it was official business. Telbus never asked, he didn't have a good feeling about the answer he might get.

Life passed, time passed, Telbus slept above the cantina at night and worked during the day. He grew to like the owner and his wife, they were two refugees from the wars near Onderon who were just trying to carve out a life. Like him. Cantina regulars began to smile when they saw him  behind the bar, he used his reflexes to send drinks fast, and never missed an order. He was no barkeep, but it would do. He probably could've become much better if not for a young Twi’lek girl…

The shutters in the bar rattled open one morning with exceptional force from normal, and in fell a teenage girl, lekku flailing. She stumbled to her feet and backed into the bar, spilling a few drinks. A Nikto thug with more scars than brains shoved through those shutters next, blaster lifted.
“Give me the girl!” He snarled. “No heroics!”
The Twi’lek let out a sob.