Author's Note

This story starts at the very beginning of The Force Awakens and immediately diverges from canon. I tinkered with a few things along the way. I made up new names, lore and backstories for the Knights of Ren. Finn doesn't leave the First Order. Rey doesn't have a Force Awakening… at least at first. Enjoy!

/

The Resistance pilot's ship burns next to him. The village burns behind him. The flames illuminate a trail of gently misplaced sand winding away into the desert's dunes. An instinct rises, an urge to reach the end of the trail. He follows it.

/

Rey senses the man's arrival. He prowls across the desert like a storm. She watches in careful silence while his presence fills up her cramped dwelling. He asks about the droid, the one she had taken to Niima Outpost that very morning and sent off-planet with a reputable trader. She explains this calmly, knowing it's pointless to lie or fight.

He does not like her honest answer, as evidenced by his armored fist punching a hole through the wall. He does not like honesty in general, she thinks, studying the mask covering his face and altering his voice.

His helmet tilts to face her, and his menacing presence leaks into her head. He skips across her recent memories — rescuing BB-8, spending credits on the droid's safe passage instead of dinner, a repair she'd made to her speeder bike's fuel line the day before. The intrusion is brief but shocking, and leaves her gasping for breath.

"Are you going to kill me?" she asks.

"No. I'd like to offer you a job."

She blinks. "I can't leave. I'm waiting for someone."

He studies her home, her meager belongings, the calendar of marks on her wall. Taking in so much from so little.

"It appears they're not coming."

His tone is mild; the remark is not meant to be callous. To Rey, it's awful because it's the undeniable truth. Tears prickle her eyes. He is not the only one who hides from honesty.

The man correctly interprets her silence. "There is a place for you in the First Order. Your talents will be put to good use." After a pointed pause, he adds, "We serve regular meals."

A feeling passes over Rey. She's had them before. It's a hunch, an instinct to accept this man's offer. Like all the previous times, she follows it.

/

Despite being the first living ship she's ever set foot in, Rey dislikes the command shuttle. It's sterile and cold. A squad of Stormtroopers wait in the hold. They snap to attention at the sight of their leader.

The masked man gestures for her to strap into a padded seat attached to the wall, then moves toward the command bridge.

Rey panics. She's uprooting her life on little more than a whim, with nothing to prepare her for the future that awaits.

"What should I call you?" she asks.

The man stops, turns toward her. "Lord Ren shall suffice."

Lord. This answer does not quell her panic.

"What are you hiring me to do?"

He is silent for a long moment, long enough for Rey's anxiety to set her heart pounding. Was he implying… he was a lord… had he hired her for…?

"I need you to repair something for me," he finally says.

Rey stares, wondering if this is a euphemism. She can't see his face, can't gauge his expressions. "Like a starship, or a machine?" she asks, fighting to keep her face blank.

His helmet tilts. "Something like that." Then he's gone.

/

In a cruel twist of fate, there are no windows inside the shuttle's hold. She spends her first trip through space with her eyes closed, following the lilting hums and roars of the engine as they ascend from Jakku. Not long after, the landing gear thumps against a solid surface. The ship's ramp extends to reveal a hangar.

Rey doesn't know where she is, but judging by the size of the hangar alone, the First Order is headquartered on an enormous star ship.

Lord Ren exits the bridge and sweeps past her. At the foot of the ramp, he gives orders to a Stormtrooper. "Take her to processing. She should be assigned a room near my training hall." He stalks off without a backward glance.

The Stormtrooper greets her with a curt nod, and they depart the hangar. He starts explaining various features of the ship after he notices her gawking.

The next several hours are a blur of forms, checkups, tests, and a sonic shower complete with bacta wash. Just when Rey is ready to drop from exhaustion, she is brought to a mess hall and served a steaming hot meal. She wants to ask for a second plate, but acknowledges she might end up face-first in her peas.

After the meal is a long walk to a different part of the ship. The corridors are less crowded, the ceilings a little taller. The Stormtrooper turns down a short hall and stops outside a door. It sweeps open to reveal a small room, and most importantly, a bed. She barely takes a look around before falling into it.

Despite her full stomach, she doesn't sleep well.

/

She wakes to a blaring alarm, and for a moment Rey is so disoriented she barely remembers her name. She staggers toward the noise. In a rush, its meaning comes back to her. It's a personnel pad, used for communication and coordination across the ship. Right now, it's alerting her of an upcoming meeting located in "engineering." No other information is given.

She scrambles to change into a fresh uniform. Her room doesn't have a private refresher (a luxury she's only ever dreamed about), but there is a mirror and a small sink tucked in the corner. Her fingers fly as she reties her hair and splashes water on her face. She smiles weakly at herself in the mirror.

The personnel pad, she recalls from a rushed orientation yesterday, can provide directions and fold into a smaller size. With a few quick taps, she pulls up a map from her room to the meeting location nearby, and sets off with the pad in hand.

The engineering room looks like a chaotic blend of a science lab, med bay, and a fabrication shop. It's also a mess. Tools are scattered across tables, bins of materials have been plundered, and cabinets overturned. There's rust all over the floor, which seems odd until Rey realizes it's dried blood.

Lord Ren is waiting for her in the middle of the room, wearing the same black greatcoat and helmet from the day before. A masked figure is seated next to him on a raised bench.

Ren points at the man. "This is who I need you to fix."

Rey thinks she's misheard. Then her eyes track to where Ren is pointing and her heart stutters to a stop.

The man's legs have been entirely replaced with prosthetics. Metallic bones are connected by synthetic tendons. Thin tubes are packed together like muscle fiber running the length of each leg. Green and blue fluid pumps through them, except for several tubes around his left knee which are damaged and leaking. Two gravitic bandages have been applied on either side of the wound as makeshift tourniquets.

She realizes this is a test, and she must pass if she truly wants this job.

"May I touch the wound?" she inquires. Neither of them answer. She assumes the silence is an exasperated yes.

She leans closer, gently moving the tubes around to inspect them. The damage reminds her of the leaking fuel line on her speeder bike. Her eyes cut to Lord Ren as she belatedly understands why she's here.

"There are three inner tubes that are mostly intact, and can be wrapped in mesh tape," she tells the men. "The seal should hold for years. The five outer tubes have been completely severed. I'll need to graft in new lines and seal them."

"Why bother grafting," Lord Ren asks, "when you could replace the outer lines completely?"

"The tubes are expensive, and—" Halfway through her answer, Rey remembers who she's talking to. A lord of the First Order, one of the richest factions in the galaxy. She switches tactics. "When you install brand new tubing, the entire system must be drained and then refilled. The synthetic fluid needs time to stabilize afterwards. He wouldn't have full use of his leg for a week."

She doesn't admit that a complete line replacement is well beyond her skill range.

Lord Ren looks at the man, who gives him a resigned nod. "Get to work," he orders Rey. "I'll be back later to check your progress."

/

Rey prides herself on being familiar with a variety of tools. She was often lucky enough to scavenge working models from downed ships. However, she has trouble locating the equipment she needs in the mess of the engineering room. The masked man silently watches her the entire time, and Rey feels uneasy turning her back to him. There's also a moment of panic when one of the gravitic bandages fails and dumps fluid all over the floor. Otherwise, the repair goes as planned.

Lord Ren carefully inspects the grafted tubes and the integrity of the mesh tape seals.

"Report to the training hall this afternoon." Lord Ren seems pleased, judging by his tone. Rey doesn't have anything else to go on.

After both masked men leave, Rey begins to clean up her workspace. Then her stomach grumbles and she realizes she has a free meal waiting for her in the mess hall.

A Stormtrooper is stationed outside the door of the engineering room. His voice is familiar as he greets her.

"Are you the one who escorted me yesterday?" Rey asks.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Can you show me to the nearest mess hall?"

"Right this way." He begins navigating them through the spaceship at a comfortable pace. "So, you're Ren's newest technician? You must be pretty good. He doesn't take just anyone to work with him and his Knights."

"Knights?"

"The Knights of Ren. His bodyguards and enforcers."

"What does he do that's so dangerous?"

The Stormtrooper slows his pace and lowers his voice. "It's Kylo Ren. I'm sure you've heard stories."

An embarrassed silence follows. Rey can't see his face, but the way he stops and drops his chin, dumbfounded, says more than enough.

"Lord Kylo Ren. Apprentice to Supreme Leader Snoke, warlord of the First Order, Master of the Knights of Ren. Do you really not know who you're working for? Have you been living under a rock?"

"Jakku," she offers.

"Oh. Well, that explains it," the Stormtrooper replies, and they start moving down the corridor once more.