Chapter Text
REY - PRESENT
It was a regular Thursday morning meeting on 1st June.
Poe was presenting their latest project development, with Finn adding commentary where necessary. It looked to be another coup for First Order Security - the first group to uncover a malware Trojan that had been resident on their customers network since the weekend - and a global hunt to find the hackers responsible had finally concluded last night.
Poe had asked Rey to step forward to share with the group the basis of the discovery code she had written. It wasn't easy but she was getting used to being in the spotlight and taking a deep breath, she grabbed the white board pen and started drawing out the code framework she'd used on the large back wall of the boardroom.
The room was largely silent and she described her work, and Rey turned back to the group to see if there were any questions. She tried her hardest to ignore the huge form of Kylo Ren, dressed in his customary black, standing in the far corner. She refused to look in his direction no matter how hard her inner Omega wanted her to, despite the faint but delicious Alpha scent that drifted over from him. There was no point in drawing his attention.
She was peppered with a few questions and compliments from her colleagues, and then Poe stepped forward to thank her and move on with the meeting.
They were just wrapping up when Hux, Kylo's assistant, pushed open the boardroom door hastily and rushed into the room.
His voice was anxious.
'Sir, we tried to stop them in reception, but they have a warrant, so we had no choice but to let them in. They are on their way although we took them to your office to buy some time.."
Hux was almost babbling, and Rey could barely make out what he said. There was a look of panic on his pale face that spoke volumes however.
Kylo Ren had left his quiet corner and had stepped forward to meet him.
"What's going on?" He sounded annoyed, "Who's here?"
"They say they are from the Designation Board. And they have an arrest order for an un-mated Alpha and unclaimed Omega. I image the Alpha is you, so we need to get you out of here."
Hux, with Poe's help, was ushering developers out of the meeting room as he spoke, and the room was nearly empty now, with just Rey and a handful of others, including her friend Finn, still left.
Ren was standing still, as if in shock, as the people swirled around him. Rey glanced at him quickly - his handsome face was pale - and she must look the same - her stomach was roiling in panic at the mention of an 'unclaimed Omega'.
"There's no way they would dare. They can't afford to take on the Resistance with such a public case." he bit out angrily
Hux shrugged his shoulders as Rey watched, but his pale face looked worried.
"Seems like they can and they will." he said, pulling together the stray papers from the deck, "Enough talking Sir, they'll be here any moment, we need to get you down the back stairs before..."
As he finished speaking the elevator doors in the hallway beyond opened, and six dark suited men and women stepped into the corridor before noticing the commotion in the Board Room and hastily making their way over. They were wearing the uniform of the Designation Group, the dark blue and red suits immediately recognisable.
It was too late for any of them to leave.
Rey felt a wave of panic which she tried her best to damp down, and then a wave of fiery anger. There was no doubt in her mind that if they were looking for an unclaimed Omega, it was very likely to be her, and she had absolutely no intention of leaving with them.
One of the women stepped forward into the room. She was tall and imposing, with dark hair and a pointed face.
"I have an order here, signed by Senator Pryde, that requires un-mated Alpha, Ben Solo, to come with us immediately to our Designation Board facility."
She walked a few more steps into the room and stood in front of Kylo Ren.
"Ben Solo. Here is a copy of the order. Please join my colleagues outside so we can escort you to the transportation."
Rey watched as Ren took the paper and scanned it briefly before staring at her, his eyes almost black in his face, and his features fixed with anger.
"And if I don't?"
"It's a court order - if you don't come willingly, I can have you sedated and removed by force." She jerked her head to the waiting group outside, and Rey noticed the tasers held in each of their hands.
Ren seemed to contemplate his options for a moment, and then handed the paper to.Hux.
"Call my lawyer, Amilyn Holdo, and let her know what's happened. Send her this."
With that, Kylo Ren moved towards the door but the woman remained and looked at Rey.
"We are also looking for Rey Niima, unclaimed Omega. Is this she?"
There was absolute silence in the room as they all turned to face Rey. It was her worst fear coming true, and Rey found herself unable to speak, unable to move, except for her eyes, which immediately met Kylo's as he turned towards her, an expression of absolute shock on his face.
"There's been an error in your paperwork. This is my employee Ms Niima, but I can assure you she is not unclaimed." he said angrily, "You need to leave now. I'm coming with you, but you have no right to stay any longer ."
The woman pulled another piece of paper from her briefcase and Rey could see her own face in the black and white photo stapled to the front.. A feeling of horrible inevitability washed over her.
"This is obviously Rey Niima, and this is a government order that she must come with us immediately. If there has been a mistake, which I very much doubt, we can address this with the Designation Board."
The next few seconds passed in a blur. Kylo grabbed her arm, pulling her towards him, until she was pressed up against his side. He barged past everyone, heading for the lift, as Poe held everyone back in the meeting room. They only managed to make it a few steps before one of the other Designation operatives had pulled out his taser and zapped Ren with a shock so hard he fell to his knees with a groan, releasing Rey's arm.
Everyone was shouting, Hux, Poe, Finn, who were rushing towards them both but were too late to stop them being bundled into the elevator, Kylo unable to stand, was being held on both sides by two of the largest operatives, Rey by the two women who twisted her arm behind her back. As they traveled, she watching in horror as another of the guards pulled a small tranquilizer gun from his pocket.
Rey struggled, kicking out and twisting her body, but it was a fruitless fight - they held her tightly and worked with such efficiency, they were able to inject her within seconds, doing the same to Kylo as he sagged in their arms.
In a haze, it seemed to take them only a few minutes to reach the front of the building where her and Kylo were bundled in to two waiting black SUVs, which swiftly pulled away onto the road.
Rey had yelled at them for a good ten minutes as they traveled - they had no right to take her, what had they done to Mr Ren, but they collectively ignored her until Rey felt herself slowly becoming weak and gave up to sit in silence. The black-out windows stopped her from seeing outside so eventually she closed her eyes and tried to meditate, calm her mind and help her thoughts clear.
It was probably two hours later when the cars stopped and the doors opened to what looked like a small office building.
They had arrived.
..........................................................................................
Kylo - 18 months ago
Kylo took another sip of black coffee as he put down the phone at the end on another frustrating conversation with his mother.
Leia always called on Wednesday at 7.30am sharp, knowing that he would be sitting in his office, and not yet have started his meetings for the day. Their conversation was the same as all the others, a cursory 'how are you darling?" when she barely waiting for the answer, and then another ten minutes of her sharing all the latest updates on Alpha and Omega Rights from her lobby group, The Resistance.
Today it seemed that things were taking a turn for the worst - she mentioned the bill they were protesting against that would limit alpha and omega freedom for any un-mated over a certain age. She had sounded a little more angry and concerned than usual but Kylo mostly let her words wash over him. It had always been this way - her care and passion for the Resistance was the most important thing in her life - and from a very young age he had known it.
"I want to see you. Soon. Come for lunch next weekend. Your father may be home - you never know." Leia finished, before blowing him a kiss down the phone and hanging up.
Another sip of his now cooling drink, and he opened his laptop to remind him of the day ahead. His Wednesday mornings were nearly always dedicated to interviews - despite the size of First Order now, he still insisted on meeting all engineering and programming candidates himself as he had done from their earliest days. It had been one of the keys to their success - only ever hiring the best. Poe was in charge for day to day operations, but all final candidates would still be reviewed by him.
Glancing at his diary, it looked like he was due to see three candidates, presuming they made it through the first round interview and written exam.
The first was scheduled for 8am, but never arrived - they must have scored too low on the aptitude test to make it through to him.
8.30am was also a no show. He needed to talk to Poe about their screening techniques if so few were progressing.
He was deep into his emails when his assistant Hux knocked softly on the door and came through, bringing with him a small pile of papers and another hot coffee.
"Your 9am is on her way. Poe wants you to see her asap." Hux dropped the paperwork in front of him on the desk and swiftly left. No small talk, the way he preferred.
Kylo finished writing his email and picked up the test scores. The candidate was listed as Rey Niima. Jakku College. He didn't need to read any further, and buzzed Hux in the next room.
Before he could speak his assistant jumped in.
"Highest score on the aptitude test we've had all year. Probably in the last five years. Maybe higher than yours."
"I don't want to see candidates from third rate community ...."
Hux interrupted again. "Miss Niima is waiting outside. I'm showing her in."
And seconds later Hux did, ushering in Miss Niima who took a seat opposite him across the wide expanse of his desk.
Kylo looked up from his laptop as she sat down. He had a brief image of poorly fitted and creased grey suit, brown hair, lightly freckled face and thin frame, before he turned his attention back to the pieces of paper in front of him.
They sat in silence. Kylo liked to do this to candidates. The ones with low self esteem would always feel compelled to break the silence with some inane story, and the overly arrogant would immediately begin to try and control the interview.
Miss Niima did neither; she sat quietly, composed.
He waited another minute or two before launching in to his standard set of questions on security and programming. Kylo didn't look up from his laptop, taking notes as she answered, whenever she made a particularly strong response.
And she did. Often.
He was surprised at first, shocked even, by how swiftly and comprehensively she answered his series of more and more challenging questions. He reviewed her test scored, dug in to the ones she hadn't scored perfectly on, and she already knew which they were, had already reviewed them in her mind and was making suggestions to correct.
It was astounding.
"Your results - they're high above average - but they don't match your degree. Why did you not invest in a better education - remote learning from Jakku College isn't exactly a world-class education?" He asked.
She seemed ready for this question, drawing slight breath before answering.
"My personal situation didn't allow for me to attend classes in person, so I studied on-line. I'm from Jakku, and they offer a program for people in the community. I took all the extension classes, and graduated in twenty three months with a distinction."
Kylo shook his head and almost laughed as he observed "I wouldn't have bothered. It's almost a worthless degree."
It was perhaps too honest a remark for an interview; he'd likely offended her, but she was still composed, her hands remaining still and clasped in her lap.
"Can I see your transcript?" he asked, wondering what she had been doing for work since graduation.
Miss Niima pulled a few papers from her shabby bag and leaned over the desk to hand them over and as she did, Kylo was able to pick up her scent for the first time. A divine combination of honey, musk and flowers.
Omega.
He jerked his head up to look at her and met her eyes, which he could see now were a soft, golden brown. He had presumed she was Beta. It was illegal to ask these days, but nearly all of their programmers were Beta, with a only a couple of Alphas like himself. No Omegas.
He said the word before he could stop himself. "Omega."
She completely ignored him and carried on.
"Back to my resume - this would be my first full time programming job, but I've had lots of other positions. My previous employers will tell you I'm very hardworking, reliable..."
As she described a series of dead end jobs, he took the opportunity to look at her again, responding to his inner Alpha's demand to examine any Omega he met as a potential mate.
Miss Niima, once you looked past the terrible clothes and severe hairstyle, was quite lovely. Exquisite face, delicate but strong features, eyes that you could drown in, coral lips, slender neck.
Kylo briefly wondered whether he could see a slight redness where her gland would be, just under her wavy hair.
It was impossible for her to work here was the next thought that immediately went through this head, she would haunt his thoughts, and that of every other alpha, day and night.
And his damn Alpha voice was whispering inside his head 'You must keep your Omega away from other men. She's should just be yours..."
He ignored the voice. He had to. This was business, and he was reminded that not only was it illegal to refuse to employ someone because of their designation, she was the strongest candidate he'd seen for years. His business needed her, regardless of his personal response.
Even so, it was a real concern the disruption cause by having a lovely Omega among the developer team, who were known for their close proximity, long work hours and tight-knit camaraderie, would be a nightmare
"I presumed you were Beta. It's very unusual to see Omegas interviewing for these positions."
They sat in silence for a minute and then Miss Niima took a deep breath before she replied.
"My designation won't affect my ability to do this job."
"Even so, it's mostly male staff in development. That could be a problem. You are very..."
She didn't let him finish his thought before she answered.
"I can do this job. And I know First Order would never make decisions based on designation. It's never been a problem in any other team I've worked in. I've work alongside the lowlifes in a junk yard, I'm sure I can handle your development team."
Still composed, Kylo watched as she searched in her shabby bag for more paper, noticing the blush of color in her cheeks. Miss Niima found what she was looking for, and leaned over once again to hand the paper to him.
"Here is a letter of recommendation from...."
This time he was able to inhale more of her scent, and this time he not only detected her divine Omega odor, but also the unmistakable marker that she was mated, already, to someone else.
He jerked away in reflex as his inner Alpha shouted 'NO' and then reached over to touch her hand, seeking confirmation of her status, pressing his fingers lightly against the gland on her wrist.
Rey had frozen in surprise, looking down at where their hands were joined. It was a shockingly intimate gesture from a near stranger, and Kylo immediately dropped her hand sharply, and stood up from behind his desk.
"Thank you Miss Niima. If you ask my assistant Hux outside, he will arrange for you to be escorted back to the developer's floor."
She was surprised but quickly collected her papers from his desk and left his office.
Kylo watched her slight form shut the door.
He would offer her the job, of course, with a package she couldn't refuse. Miss Niima was one of the strongest candidates they had seen in years, and her skills and aptitude would make a material difference to some critical projects coming up.
Even so, watching her leave, he felt totally bereft, as if all light and warmth left the room with her.