Note: So... this first chapter was originally written/completed in November of 2016. I'd been trying to gear up for the SW Polyamory Big Bang, but issues with my husband and a heavy physical toll from work prevented me from completing this story.

But now that I've just left, I'm posting all this old stuff I felt I couldn't before (and had in fact agreed not to repost them when they were hacked). So yay! I'm glad to be posting this. I feel such an ENERGY and excitement for writing and a general joie de vivre. It's wonderful.

So yep, here's a new fic. And I do plan on finishing this. It's already been talked into the ground for ideas surrounding the premise and plot of this fic - four hours nonstop with the lovely IshaRen, whom this is gifted to.

Also, IshaRen? Thanks for being great and just a beautiful and creative and intelligent (and lots of other wonderful things) person. You're amazing. 3

Well, I hope you enjoy! :) Take care, everyone. Off I go to get some caffeine injected into my blood, then to driving for 12 hours! Well, maybe 10. Eep.

(And YES - I know there's exposition. You try writing consensual, world-building A/B/O. It's harder than you think!)

It happened in a matter of seconds.

One moment Rey was on a pre-programmed hyperspace course, returning from her latest mission, and the next moment her small X-wing made an awful noise, plunging her out of the blue of hyperspace and into the star-studded blackness of regular space.

Everything else happened in quick succession after that.

As her vessel started to veer uncontrollably, Rey had only just enough time to realize that there was a high likelihood that she would soon be becoming one with the Force―if she were so lucky.

One engine was completely dead and the other was stuck in full thrust. She couldn't disengage it; all she could do was sit back and watch as her vessel careened towards an unknown blue and green planet.

She didn't know its name. She had no idea where she was.

Rey tried to reach out through the Force towards her Master, Luke, but she must have been too far away for him to hear her through their still-tentative connection, try as she might.

That left her with only one option.

As soon as she entered the atmosphere, Rey hit the eject button.

She held tightly to the cords of the parachute with one hand, the other resting on the lightsaber attached to her belt as if she were worried it would be whisked away in the descent. Her eyes watched with horror as her X-wing hurtled towards the ground, and she drew in a gasp, eyes widened, as it exploded into flames, dust pluming outwards, as it made contact.

Rey sighed, but set her jaw. Just because she didn't know where she was, what this planet was called or what it was like, and just because she didn't have anything on her except a small kit and her saber… just because of that and so much more, it didn't mean that she wouldn't be able to survive here until help came along.

She'd survived worse before; and had waited much longer on Jakku without ever giving up hope.

Someone would come for her.

Armitage Hux woke to an empty bed. His lips turned down into a frown as he stretched and propped himself onto his elbows, sheets pooling down to his lap. This wasn't what he had expected when he and Kylo had made plans to steal away for a week.

Well, he supposed it was a little bit of a stretch to expect to stay in bed every moment of every day.

With a sigh, he pulled himself out of bed, pushing his mussed hair out of his face, and padded naked through the cottage as he followed the scent of his alpha lover. It wasn't something most people would pick up, but another alpha, like he was, and one so in tune with the other… he had no trouble discerning the scent from the crisp freshness of the early evening air being pulled in through the open windows.

He and Kylo had left the Finalizer in the care of Captain Phasma's capable hands, the only other person who knew of their dirty little secret. As a female alpha, Phasma understood what it felt like to be part of a forbidden romance, except she couldn't escape her fate. Everyone knew she was sterile, and society had dubbed her kind off-limits, even with their ability to assist with heats, simply because they couldn't procreate.

Well, he and Kylo couldn't procreate either, but at least it was easier to hide what they were: male alphas involved with each other. In public they were simply seen as unattached alpha males, too busy with work and their ambitions of power to have mated and paired off with an omega or beta.

That suited them just fine.

Making a mental note to purchase a gift for their co-commander, Hux pushed the thoughts aside as he finally entered the room in which his lover had stationed himself.

Wrapping his arms around the other man's waist as he stood still before a large window, fingers trailing over the waistband of the sleep pants Kylo had obviously thrown on, Hux nipped at the shoulder blade in front of him and then murmured into his skin, "We've only been here a single night and day, and already I've chased you from my arms, huh Kylo?"

The other man said nothing, simply continuing to stare out at the wild valley before their eyes as he let in and out continuous deep breaths. He wasn't tense, but there was a certain aura of readiness to the man that Hux had hoped he wouldn't see on this escape from their normal duties.

Hux sighed and rubbed his cheek against the man's smooth and lightly freckled back, marking the other man consciously for the first time in months―something he had to be careful of in public.

If anyone knew, if anyone found out, they would never have the respect of their subordinates―at least, not in the way they had worked so hard to obtain. For over five years they had been together, and it was all made possible by their careful planning… and the occasional accident when needs must.

"What's wrong?" Hux asked softly. He knew his lover, and this silence when they had so been looking forward to their time away was unusual and disconcerting.

Kylo shook his head slightly and let his most recent breath of air out in a quiet huff. "Someone's here," he murmured, and only Hux's excellent hearing saved him from missing what the other man said.

"There's no one here. This cabin is the only damn habitation on this planet," Hux replied impatiently.

"That's not what I mean, Taj―don't be a condescending ass," Kylo growled as he spun around and gripped the redhead's jaw between both large hands.

Hux growled up at him from his slightly shorter position, baring his teeth and letting Kylo know exactly how he felt about his use of dominance tactics. "Well, explain yourself better next time, and I won't have to be a 'condescending ass' to get an answer out of you!" he gritted out as he pulled his face from the now-lax grip.

Kylo turned around abruptly to stare once more out the window at the darkening sky. "Get dressed and help me put together a few supplies. We're going out," he ordered absently.

Hux glared at the back of his head. "And why would we be doing that?"

Kylo's hand lifted to rub at his face―at the scar that bisected his eye and cheekbone, Hux realized with suspicion.

The suspicion coalesced completely with Kylo's next words: "Because she's here."

Hux knew exactly who she was. She was the one who had helped destroy Starkiller over a year ago; the one whom Kylo had nearly lost his life to… the one whom Kylo had been steadily obsessing over since the day he saw her in person―and longer than that, even, in Force visions and dreams Kylo'd had long before he even knew who she was. Long before he'd ever laid eyes on her.

Hux knew who she was:

The one who pretended at being a beta; whose anger had let through the smallest whiff of her true nature.

The little omega Jedi girl, Rey, who was a threat to the First Order... and to his relationship.

Much as he might dream of her, as well.

"Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck kriffing fucking―arrrgh!" Rey's rant ended with an unintelligible scream as she threw her flight helmet at the pile of twisted wreckage that had once been her X-wing. She'd only been there half the day and she already knew she was in trouble after having searched through every last piece of the burned fuselage.

There was nothing she could salvage.

No food, no radio, no water packets, no extra clothes… not even the fuselage was in good enough shape to be used as a shelter.

But the worst of it all was that none of her personal belongings had survived the quick flash and burn. She could survive on her own practically anywhere―and this lush paradise was leaps and bounds more hospitable than Jakku had been―but she had never before been without her suppressants. She had never missed a dose. Rey was due for her latest self-injection, one that would last her months and allow her to pass as a beta by way of her affected and learned mannerisms. Ever since she had presented at puberty, she had never been without. If she were in need of food and suppressants, and could only afford one, she always bought the suppressant first, from the elderly ladies of the village.

They had warned her exactly what would happen to a young, female omega such as herself if she were to be found out. There were people who hunted specifically for her kind, on places specifically like Jakku, where the arm of law of the Republic would never right the evils which those slavers perpetrated. All to catch omegas. To catch and enslave and fuck and breed them as nothing more than chattel.

So she had vowed no one would ever find out, secluding herself in the open desert as an added protective measure and coming into town only when absolutely necessary to her survival.

Not even Luke knew. Not even Leia, or Finn, or Poe.

Only Dr. Kalonia had ever found out, and Rey had sworn her to secrecy even within her own department. Rey had pleaded with the woman to mark her as a beta in her files and to keep her lips sealed, and the older woman had complied with an understanding and sympathy that Rey had been too relieved over for her to be upset at the pity she'd noted in Kalonia's eyes.

And now here she was with her smuggled medication burnt to a crisp, and nowhere to purchase any more. She doubted there were any villages nearby―if there were even any sentient species on this backwater planet.

Rey sighed and folded her legs beneath her in a meditative pose as she sunk to the ground in defeat. Temporary defeat, she told herself. She may as well pull together as much calmness as she was able to hold onto, for as long as she would have to remain here until someone came and found her.

She needed as much calm and peace as she could get. She'd never experienced a true, full heat before in her life, but had heard enough horror stories over the years to know that she was in for a trip as soon as she crossed paths with an alpha―any alpha―during her inevitable heat. She was sure that the Resistance would send out pilots to search for her… and the vast majority of their top recon pilots were alphas. She knew that she would enter heat soon after her suppressants wore off. Having suppressed her heats for so long, her body would jump into heat very soon afterwards to correct itself, rather than on a schedule of every few months like unsuppressed omegas, mated or unmated. She would simmer, oh so slowly worsening, for months if that's what it took until she caught the scent of an alpha, and then… And then her heat would kick into high gear and there would be no way out of it except through natural heat and rut… or indescribable pain, fever, loss of bodily and mental control, and even the possibility of death if she were to use a replacement method. And as a Force user, that loss of control could mean death to those around her as well.

Once the beginnings of her heat started, there was no way to reverse the effects, even if she took suppressants once more. As soon as that heat started to simmer… there was no way past it except to follow through with an alpha or chemical aids―and she could admit to herself that she feared death.

Didn't everyone?

Yet Rey wasn't sure which would be worse. Giving in to an alpha―to anyone, really―for the first time… or the pain and death that could very well await her, and others, if she refused and opted for option two. Or if she pretended her problem didn't exist with option three.

That was all supposing she didn't die alone on this planet from her heat, unable to satisfy her biological nature―curse―with or without a flesh and blood alpha, man or woman. If she had none of that, her chances of living past a year alone were next to nothing. So infinitesimal that it barely even counted as a viable statistic.

But…if all of that went her way… even if her full heat occurred, she could isolate herself far away from others so as to mitigate the damage done through the Force, and work her own body over with heat aids and chemical hormones, and meditation could―

No. Best not borrow trouble. There was still time. There was still a chance.

Shunting that quandary to the side for the moment, Rey breathed in, held her breath for ten counts, and then slowly released the held air to the count of five. In… out… in… out…

She'd been walking for hours now, marking her path from the crash site in the event that she needed to retrace her steps. She wanted to get a feel for the land around her, to see if there was any food that she could find, or a source of fresh water―which she'd actually found plenty of both―but the light was starting to fade and she had no idea what sorts of predators were native to this planet.

One thing was for sure, though: she hadn't spotted any signs of sentient life. No signs of any type of intelligent society. If there had been, she might have been able to find shelter and food, and even a transponder that could have allowed her to contact the Resistance.

If there had been a village of any sort, she might have been able to find some suppressants.

She would need them desperately, and soon. If the Resistance found her within the next three days, there was a good chance she might be able to get to suppressants before she went into even the early stages of heat.

Yet that was looking increasingly unlikely to the logical part of her brain. It would be at least another day before they realized she was too late in arriving for it to be a simple hold-up keeping her from getting there.

No, they very likely wouldn't arrive on time.

Rey cursed inwardly.

She would be safe enough, able to control her destiny, if she kept to herself, if she refused to get within scenting distance of anyone who came to find her. Perhaps she could manage to shout out her demand for a beta or another omega to be sent for, if an alpha was the one who landed first―she didn't want to cause any mayhem to erupt like she'd seen happen on Jakku when… no. She didn't want that at all.

If she could manage all that, with her heat suppressed enough by not engaging an alpha, she could then be flown to the base, an alpha that she trusted sent for―or toys and chemicals, if she so chose―and then she could go through her heat in privacy. Her secret would be out, but that would be better than any of the other options. Even then, the knowledge might be possible to contain, depending on who found her, and she might be able to keep her secret with only a small few knowing what she truly is.

Yes, that sounded like a good plan, even if she chose the option of finally giving herself for the first time to someone in a situation that was less than ideal. But… it was better than the other options; at least as far as it stood currently. She would make the best of a bad situation―she always had.

With a renewed lift to her steps, Rey continued on her way back to the site of the crash, belly filled with water and freshly-picked berries, her helmet holding even more of the latter.

She arrived after full dark, the sun having long since set behind the surrounding mountains, and promptly dropped her weary body into a meditative position. She calmed herself down, slowing her breathing and concentrating on relaxing her body a muscle at a time, until her mind was free and clear, drifting from no particular thought to another.

Once she was in the right state of mind, Rey cast her thoughts out by way of the Force. It wasn't something Luke had spent very much time on with her, but he had taught her just enough so that she could find him if she got lost, or find other life forms around her.

She immediately knew she was nowhere near close enough to Luke for her to be able to reach out to him.

But that wasn't the important thing.

That wasn't the thing that sent Rey scrambling to her feet in shock, eyes darting every which way around her.

No, it was the lack of any other intelligent life on this planet… except for two mental footprints coming closer and closer to her position.

One of which she knew exceedingly well as soon as she brushed up against it.

Kylo. Kriffing. Ren.

Rey looked around herself, trying desperately to calm her mind as she took stock of what she had around her, what she could fight with, and whether it would be worth it to run away.

But no, it was too late for any of that. She could finally hear the faint sounds of an approaching spacecraft, and moments later she saw the lights of said craft flying low over the treetops.

It was too late to hide, and she doubted it would do any good in any case―but she did have her lightsaber. Reaching down, she unhooked it, thumbed the switch, and held the blade in a low guard before her so that it wouldn't completely ruin her night vision.

She knew it would be a beacon to Kylo Ren and whoever else was with him, but she also knew she would be found no matter what.

She may as well stand and fight in that case.

As soon as the craft landed, near to her, and the ramp started to open, she knew that she was in a lot worse trouble than she'd originally thought.

In all the furor and mayhem during and after the destruction of Starkiller, she'd all but forgotten that Kylo Ren was an alpha. The last time she'd smelt him, she'd been distracted and suppressed, her sense of smell muted immensely by the drugs. Now, at the end of her suppressants, the air from inside the ship moving towards where she stood downwind… now she remembered.

And whoever else was with him was an alpha as well.

Oh kriff.

Her odds weren't looking good at all, and her mind frantically attempted to veer away from the thought of what would happen if… when her heat presented within the next day or two.

Because now her odds of leaving this planet with shackles was much higher than the nil she'd thought it to be before.

It hadn't even crossed her mind.

Suddenly dying looked like a much saner, less compromising, less awful option.

Her smell was the first thing that hit him. He'd known it was her, from the moment she had entered the atmosphere in such a sudden and panicked fashion that the Force had practically quivered and danced at her presence.

But now, with her scent filling his lungs as he pulled in deep breaths of air, he knew for sure that it was her. It was the same scent that had plagued Kylo for days after Starkiller had gone up in flames. At first it had meant failure to him, and he'd punished himself by remembering her; remembering her scent as it had swirled around him in the snow of the decomposing planet, her form standing over him lit by the blue of his grandfather's saber.

Yet another mark against him. Another mark of his failure.

But… in the weeks and months that came afterward, even as the scent had faded from his sensory memory, even as he and Hux had fallen back into each other's arms upon his return from the completion of his training beneath Snoke… the memory of her had become an obsession.

It didn't take him much longer after that to realize that they were connected through the Force, flimsy as that tether might be between them. What he had thought was an inability to rid his mind of her, was in actual fact a link to her mind, sitting unobtrusively and quietly in the depths of his mind.

Hux… well, Hux had been none too pleased. The general had found himself vying for his lover's attention with the specter of a girl whom he hadn't even met. Kylo had reassured him that this was not the same―that Hux would always be his in a way that he had no intention of Rey ever becoming.

But then… then he began to speak of the things he had seen in her mind, in that one, fraught glimpse he had had of her before she'd pushed back into his mind, forging the link that bound them… That was when everything began to change again.

That was when he began to feel a hunger, a yearning… and Hux fell in alongside him, sharing the crystal-clear visions as Kylo pressed their foreheads together in the sweat-ridden sheets of whoever's bed they were in on that particular evening. They began to want, to yearn, to know this woman who was supposed to be their enemy. This woman… this woman who could complete them; who had the passion and strength to withstand their own force of personality… an omega to finally tie them together, and them to her.

And they both wanted her, no matter how wrong it was. Oh yes, they both did, however disgruntled Taj might be…

Her smell was the first thing that hit him once the shuttle ramp lowered. It permeated the air of the clearing, even with the breeze drifting away from them. But there was something wrong with it. Something Kylo had known was wrong with it, but hadn't bothered him until he smelled it once again, here, now.

How dare she cover up that beautiful, luscious, wonderful omega smell? Who was she protecting herself from, that she had to hide who she was?

No, Kylo knew. Hux knew. As they looked at each other, standing at the top of the ramp, Kylo knew they were both thinking of the memories they had seen, and shared, from Rey's mind. Oh, no, they knew exactly why she hid herself.

It didn't lessen the fact that her smell now sat heavily in their nostrils, roiling their stomachs with everything that it implied. Everything it covered.

Kylo let a smile tug at his lips, and he met Hux's equally-anticipatory gaze with his own―the one Taj would never admit to.

She was here.

He had no idea what they would do with her, but the focus of their attentions was before them―

―and an enemy of the First Order―the sole legacy of the New Jedi Order.

What a clusterfuck.

Kylo almost wished she weren't standing right there before them.

This wasn't really the way he'd wanted to get his―their―hands on her.

Actually, he had no idea how they would have―at all. For all their dreams of having her, they had never truly prepared for it.

He'd improvised far worse situations, he supposed.

Kylo squared his shoulders, brushed his hand against the lightsaber in his holster―but did not release it into his palm―looked at Taj once more to make sure the man was covering him… and stepped down the ramp.