Over the next week, Rayden, George, Lexi, and the others explored the forest and trained by playing hide-and-seek.
The game would start with one of them seeking, and each person found would join the seekers. "So, like infection from Halo," Rayden thought to himself when they first came up with the rules.
While hiding in a tree one day, Rayden came across an unusual fruit. It looked like an apple, but it was purple, with swirls. His heart jumped when he first saw it, as it seemed awfully similar to a Devil Fruit from One Piece.
But that wasn't possible since that world wasn't part of the Star Wars universe—was it?
There was only one way to find out. After plucking the fruit, he cleaned it off and slowly took a bite.
Rayden's eyes opened wide, shocked by the taste. It was delicious—sweet enough to taste good without being overly sugary.
It had a slight melon flavor with a hint of mint. He felt no new powers, so it was just a normal fruit. That thought disappointed Rayden, as he had hoped to gain Logia or Mythical Zoan powers.
Moving on, he ignored the distant voices of the others and searched the surrounding trees. He found dozens of fruits all over. The unripe ones had a bluish hue and tasted less sweet, with a tart edge.
Ashley found him harvesting fruit and, noticing he was ignoring their game, decided to try some herself. Her eyes lit up as she stopped searching for the others and turned to help Rayden.
At one point, Rayden secretly took out R2-E5 and got acquainted with him before sending one of the kids to get a harness to carry a basket or two.
None of the kids questioned where he got the droid, except for Lexi, to whom he responded that he had found it.
By the end of the day, all the kids had stopped playing and picked enough fruit to fill a dozen baskets, each taking home a few for their parents.
E5 followed Rayden back to the Resolute Citadel, carrying two baskets—one on his front and one on his back.
When they reached the stairs, little thrusters popped out of E5's legs and carried him to the top.
A few guards stood at the front. One of them was tasked with documenting everyone who entered and left the building.
"Hey, Rayden, what's with the droid next to you?" the guard asked as he recorded Rayden and the astromech droid entering.
"This is E5; I found him while playing today. You'll be seeing him from now on," Rayden responded, taking one of the ripe fruits from the basket and placing it in front of the guard.
"What's this?" The guard looked confused. He had never seen a fruit like this.
"A new fruit that the other kids and I found. It's sweet, with lots of sugar and a slight melon and mint taste. Share it with the other guards," Rayden introduced the fruit before walking away.
"Thanks, I will," the guard replied, accepting the fruit and pulling out a vibroblade from his gauntlet before cutting the fruit into a few slices.
"Boys, come try this fruit Rayden brought," he called out to the other guards at the door.
Each of the guards tried a piece and wished they had more. They tasted incredible.
—
Back with Rayden, he was walking through the citadel, showing E5 around the building so it wouldn't get lost.
As he passed each department's office, he left a piece of fruit for them to share. Each office had people salivating at the sight of the new fruit once they tried it.
He distributed the fruit wherever he went: the library, mess hall, kitchen, guards' barracks, and more. By the time he found his parents and grandfather on the fifth floor, he had five pieces of fruit left, which he handed to Elyse.
She washed the fruits, then cut them up and placed them on a plate. They were sitting at the dining table, getting ready for dinner.
"Damn, this fruit is great," Torin said as he took his third slice. The old warrior's hair was slicked back, and he wore fine robes. He spent most of his days either training foundlings or hanging out with Drenar for a drink.
Varn nodded with a mouthful of fruit. He glanced at the fruit and then at the droid next to Rayden, noting that the droid had had a busy day.
Elyse, in contrast, was eating the slices elegantly, though you could see she was also eating with zeal.
"Ray, why don't you catch us up on your new discoveries?" Varn asked, not just referring to the fruits.
Nodding, Rayden finished the slice in his hand and recapped his day: from training in the morning to playing hide and seek in the afternoon, to finding the fruits and E5.
He explained that he had discovered the fruits while hiding, then picked all the ripe ones with the other kids. He also described the taste of the unripe ones.
"You should have brought some, boy," Torin interjected. He would have loved to try the tart fruit.
"Dad, there will be plenty of fruits in the future," Varn said, showing an exasperated look at his father's sweet tooth.
Torin took another slice and turned back to Rayden, waiting for him to continue.
Rayden then talked about finding E5 abandoned in the forest and powering him on. The droid now saw him as its owner, so he asked if he could keep it.
Varn and Elyse exchanged silent glances, seemingly about to disagree, when Torin said, "Just let the boy keep it. It's good that he has a droid companion. He was going to get one eventually."
A few seconds later, Varn and Elyse agreed and allowed Rayden to keep E5.
"Yes, Grandpa, thanks for the save! I'll bring you extra fruits tomorrow, old man," Rayden thought joyfully.
Returning to the topic of fruit, Rayden suggested that he could lead them to the tree tomorrow.
"I think we should create an orchard from the tree. Whether it's unripe or ripe, the fruit still tastes delicious and could become a staple of DawnHaven, possibly even be exported for a good price," Rayden expressed, inspired by the fruit he'd tasted earlier in the day.
"That's a good idea, my little merchant," Elyse said, ruffling his hair before taking another slice.
"Mom!" Rayden backed away and fixed his hair. She always ruffled his head so hard, and he didn't want to risk going bald. He liked his hair.
A servant served dinner, and they had a lovely meal as they chatted about the growth in DawnHaven and what other discoveries awaited them on Arcadia.
The following day, Rayden showed his parents the fruit trees. They ran into Lexi, Veyra, and others, who were introducing their parents to the trees as well.
After some discussion, the area was fenced off to create a makeshift orchard while they gathered seeds to make a proper one in the farming district.
Rayden also picked ten ripe fruits to give to Torin, fulfilling the promise he had made to himself.
A week later, Rayden put his plan into action by using E5 to share new data chips.
He approached his parents to explain that while he was looking through E5's memory banks, he found a lot of encrypted data. When he asked E5 where it came from, it said it didn't remember.
It seemed that one file had unlocked, and he wanted to show them what he had discovered.
Varn suggested taking E5 to have one of Serdran's top splicers access the encrypted data, but, as planned, E5 began issuing warnings that any unauthorized access would result in the data being deleted.
Slightly skeptical, they decided to accept the story and asked Rayden and E5 to show them the unencrypted file.
Rayden rejoiced internally that they accepted, and he instructed E5 to project the starfighter design. He had already loaded the design into E5 earlier, so he wouldn't have to pull out a data chip.
As E5 approached where Varn and Elyse were sitting, its holographic projector activated, displaying a starship design from a different era.
Just looking at the design, Varn and Elyse were intrigued.
"It looks similar to a Z-95 Headhunter," Varn observed while rubbing his chin.
"Yeah, but it's smaller and more compact," Elyse pointed out, examining the hologram.
"Ray, do you know anything about it?" they asked their son.
Like a kid showing off a new toy, Rayden had E5 display the specifications.
"This is called a Starfighter, specifically an E Wing," he said, letting the name linger for a moment.
"According to the design file, the Starfighter is 11 meters long, with a MGLT (Megalight per hour) rating of 120 and a maximum atmospheric speed of 1,300 km/h."
"It features a class 1 or 2 hyperdrive, two ion engines, deflector shields, heavy armoring plating, and a sensory array in the nose. Additionally, it has one proton torpedo launcher with a total of 16 proton torpedoes, and four laser cannons—two heavy laser cannons at the tips of the wings and two medium laser cannons on both sides of the nose." Rayden had chosen a more advanced version of the E Wing as his reward.
Early versions of the E Wing had numerous problems, so he opted for a later model that offered more firepower and addressed most of them.
"And it can house an astromech droid to assist with navigation." Rayden tapped E5's head, and the droid beeped happily in response.
Varn whistled as he looked at the specifications for the Starfighter. They were impressive; he appreciated that they had shields, unlike the Fang fighters, who had none. Both fighters were fast, and he believed they would work well together for hit-and-run tactics.
"When the space station is complete, we should produce a few E-wings and test them. If they perform well, we could incorporate more into our arsenal," Elyse suggested. She was equally impressed by the design and features they offered.
—
Varn brought the E-wing design to the council's attention at their next meeting. Camren and Drenar scrutinized the design, but in the end, everyone approved it and agreed they should produce the Starfighter when they had the capacity.
As the meeting continued, they addressed various issues at the station site, DawnHaven, and the mining sites throughout the system.
They were already stretched thin with their current headcount, so Ravik suggested they look for more people. Droids could only do so much, and if they wanted to grow and develop, they needed more personnel.
Everyone felt torn; they wanted to keep the system their own little secret, but they knew Ravik was right. So, they agreed to send a few envoys to invite neutral clans that were not affiliated with either the Duke or Death Watch.
"I think we should also send some people to the wider galaxy to find individuals with talent that would be beneficial for us," Veyra suggested.
After a quick discussion about whether to allow non-Mandalorians in, they decided to welcome them. They would try to get the newcomers to adopt Mandalorian culture to help smooth the integration process.
RA Industries could hire people and provide accommodations for their families.
As they finalized their discussions and prepared to call it a day, a secretary walked in with news they had all been expecting, though they didn't know when it would arrive.
Civil war had officially started. The Death Watch had launched an all-out attack, having gathered strength over the past year and absorbed many traditionalist clans, winning them over to their cause.
The capital was hit hard, with thousands dead and dozens of the Duke's and allied clans' members attacked. It was not a promising start.
Varn looked at the intelligence compiled by their spies and informants. "Do we help the Duke or sit this one out?"
The group was divided. They did not want the Death Watch to win, but they were unwilling to send their clansmen to fight and die, especially just as they were laying the foundation for their own government and company.