Disclaimer: none of these characters are mine, all places and ideas mentioned belong to Lucasfilm and Disney (unfortunately)
Anakin awoke with a start. Glancing around his surroundings, he noticed that he was in a featureless grey room, lit by a single dull light strip overhead, which illuminated the room in a dim yellow light. Stacked uniformly around him were crates, but despite craning his neck, he couldn't make out what was inside them. Straining his memory, he tried to recall what had happened before he had blacked out.
It all came crashing back in an instant: the senate, the duel, the sith… Briefly, he wondered if he'd been arrested, after all, he hadn't actively participated in arresting the Chancellor. He felt anger flare within him, towards Windu, for not taking him to begin with; towards Palpatine, for betraying him so thoroughly; and towards his master, who had abandoned him just when he had needed him most. However, Anakin could only afford to wallow in his self-pity for a moment and forced himself to return to his current position. How was he going to escape? He contemplated his situation for a long time, trying in vain to formulate an escape plan.
Eventually, he managed to sink into a meditative state, stretching his mind out to encompass anything that may provide answers to a way out. To his surprise, his mental probe almost immediately brushed against the minds of three others outside the door. Startled, he withdrew immediately, cursing himself for not trying it earlier and threw himself into the shadows behind the nearest crate stack, melting into them with practised ease. The door swung open a moment later, and a solemn voice sounded, straining his ears, Anakin managed to make out a few words, "barely made it out alive… third time this month… stormtroopers are getting better at tracking us…".
Anakin frowned at the conversation, very little made sense to him. The people were dressed in almost civilian clothing, resembling no clone or droid he had ever seen, and yet they were all armed, holing their blasters with an ease and familiarity born of experience. No citizen of Coruscant was fighting in the war, that was what the clones had been commissioned for, so where was he? Anakin already sensed something was amiss, so pressed himself further into the shadows, completely concealing himself from sight.
However, this cost him more than he would have liked, and he caught no more of the conversation, keeping out of sight until he heard the door slam behind the last man. He kept listening but heard nothing. There had been no key: the door was unlocked. Bracing himself for what he now suspected to be an elaborate trap or mind game by the newly uncovered sith lord, Anakin crept forwards, easing the door open just enough to slip through before noiselessly closing it behind him. Warily, he unclipped his lightsaber from his belt, but refrained from activating it in his attempt to remain unnoticed.
The passageway he now found himself in was uniformly lit and lined with identical doors like the one he had just emerged from. He crept down the passage and peered in through one of the doors: the room was empty. As he progressed, he realised that almost all the rooms in the facility were. He understood why, it wasn't the first time he'd seen a base in the middle of an evacuation, he wondered if it was connected to the 'stormtroopers' he'd heard mention of earlier. Anakin kept going, walking as softly as he could, but never able to shake the feeling that something wasn't right. He didn't recognise he locks on the doors that had them, but he could tell they were advanced, which confused him, there had to be a reason why security this advanced was being used to protect what was seemingly an old a storage facility…
Most worryingly though, there was no sign of the war, no emblems, no mention of the Separatists or the Republic, yet the signs of battle were everywhere. Blaster bolts had burned numerous holes into the walls, littering them with reminders of an enemy who Anakin knew was never truly gone.
Finally, he reached the end of the corridor and, spotting a darkened storage room with its door open ajar, darted out of the light to collect his thoughts. Almost immediately, he sensed something was wrong. Anakin froze, flattening himself against the wall and listening intently for a sign that he was not alone. He was almost about to relax when he heard the almost imperceptible sound of a boot easing itself onto the floor at what he guessed was five metres behind him. Tensing his body, he waited until he could sense the presence almost upon him, then dropped to avoid a sharp blow he predicted would be aimed at his head, springing up in a savage upwards strike which he had honed throughput his years fighting in the clone wars. He hadn't been mistaken, but his timing had been off by a few crucial moments and with dismay, he felt his fist connect with empty air, before feeling a sharp pain in the side of his temple as his attacker's strike connected.
However, the moment he had missed his strike, Anakin had reacted on instinct, throwing himself to the side, and was able to role with the blow and minimise the damage. He spun away from his attacker, dropping into a low crouch and sweeping his leg out to trip them. To his satisfaction, he felt himself make contact and waited for the sound of his attacker collapsing onto the ground, so he could execute a quick strike to the throat to incapacitate them. The sound never came. Instead, Anakin heard the soft of boots alighting on the ground as his opponent neatly flipped to land on their feet. Letting out a small growl, Anakin sprang back at his opponent, but halfway through his jump, he felt an invisible force collide with him and send him sprawling back onto the ground. As he felt the air leave him, Anakin realised with a growing sense of terror that his opponent was a force user.
Realising they could sense where he was, Anakin abandoned his attempt at stealth, slowly and purposefully walking towards his opponent, letting his lightsaber hilt drift down to his side as he did so. When he sensed he was in striking range, Anakin flicked his arm over his head, activating his weapon as he did so. The humming blue blade shot out in a glowing arc as it descended on its target, only to be stopped at the last second. Reacting on instinct, Anakin pirouetted away from the lock and swung his lightsaber round, dropping into a crouch as he did so, aiming for his opponent's legs. It didn't surprise his to find they jumped the blow, but he pressed his offensive whilst he could, raining two more overhead strikes down before spinning out of the conflict to disengage. As he stood trying to gauge a strategy, he noticed the blue hue of his opponent's lightsaber suddenly vanished and he heard a harsh whisper, "Anakin, turn it off, you'll get us both killed", the figure hissed. With a sudden sense of understanding, he rushed to do as the voice had instructed, clipping his lightsaber to his belt and grasping the forearm the figure had extended. "Sorry Master, I almost had you", he grinned. However, both him and Obi-Wan, now revealed as the figure he had been fighting moments ago, kept their mental shields strong around their minds, to prevent against a mental attack by a more malevolent force user.
Their reunion was cut short and a blood red light suddenly filled the room and the group of armed civilians Anakin had seen earlier suddenly filed into the room. One of them felt a flare aloft, but all brandished strange blasters that Anakin wasn't familiar with pointed at the Jedi. Reacting fast, the two Jedi called their lightsabers to their hands and adopted a defensive position, covering each other's backs, as they had become accustomed to during their time serving together in the clone wars, they remained tense as they waited for the first shots to be fired at them, adrenaline already beginning to course through their veins in anticipation of the fight to come.
The shots never came though, because at that moment, the civilian holding the flare called in a clear voice, "stand down, they're friendly". Every blaster was immediately holstered, and Anakin saw a fleeting look of admiration at their discipline pass over Obi-Wan's face. Remaining locked in their position, Obi-Wan called out "who are you, and what do you want with us?", voicing Anakin's own questions. "Stay calm Master Jedi", came the response, "please come with me, I'll take you to the others, and we can try and make sense of what just happened alright?". The two Jedi nodded their agreement and sheathed their lightsabers, but didn't clip them to their belts, remaining wary of the group escorting them. "The others?" hissed Anakin, "do you think he means more of us travelled through?" Obi-Wan muttered his agreement with the question, but otherwise remained mostly silent throughout the journey, speaking only to point out possible tactical spots to secure in case of their escort turned on them.
Eventually, they reached what resembled a hangar, filled with craft Anakin he never seen before. They had long, thin bodies, with thin wings kept together and the back of the craft. They were numerous throughout the hangar, and he briefly wondered how he hadn't seen them before in combat. However, he didn't get time to dwell on this for long, as he noticed the two figures standing slightly apart from the rest of the troops, as he had come to think of their escort now. Yoda bowed his head in acknowledgment of the Jedi as they approached, and Windu greeted them each in turn. His words were short and curt, but there was a new respect in his eyes when he spoke to Anakin, and his voice seemed to have slightly lost its accusatory edge. Obi-Wan shot Anakin a small smile as he noticed, and Anakin briefly nodded in thanks. Their reunion was cut short when the man who had held the flair suddenly cleared his throat. "Greetings", he started, "only the Force knows how you got here, but you four might just be the miracles we needed to repel the Empire. They know we're here, and its only a matter of time before they launch a full-scale assault, most of our forces are already off-planet, but we'll need to help us hold out until we can fully evacuate. Show them no mercy, they'll show none to you: gentlemen, welcome to the Rebellion!"
I decided to focus on Anakin's perspective for this chapter, don't worry, it won't always be like that, and I do have a few ideas for where I'm going next. Thanks again for everyone who has followed and reviewed this so far, it's really helped me to work on this story as fast as I could.