Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

By Kixi Rajki

Kay Eclipse is a woman on the edge. Her heart has been shattered. Her beliefs have been destroyed. She wants revenge. Revenge is not a Jedi trait... but it is a human one. And now she has dangerously stepped over a line that no Jedi dares to cross by capturing and torturing the very person responsible for wronging her and her family two decades earlier. The day of reckoning has come.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kixi Rajki
• Release date: Jan 17, 2024
• ISBN: 9798215193150

Kixi Rajki

Kixi Rajki, birth name Kristijana Rajki is a bilingual interpreter as well as translator, an Information Technology guru (She’s a former I.T. Specialist) who lives in Melbourne with her spouse Mako Jhasmin Ikeda. She is the creator of the KnM Blade universe, and the author of all material and works in the ever growing and expanding series. To view more information beyond the completed titles of her KnM Blade universe featured here at Smashwords.com, please click on her website link featured on this page to access any details for titles currently in progress; current timelines and proposed timelines of the KnM Blade universe; and other things about her and her works.For as long as she can remember, she's been mesmerised by the extraordinary world of sci-fi– most notably Star Wars and Star Trek. She loves reading and writing, as well as finding new ways to drive readers crazy with twisting plots that will leave them sitting on the edge of their seats. She also has a deep love for video gaming, fantasy, football (soccer), formula 1, cars, science, languages and Japanese martial arts, notably Aikido, Kendo and Kenjutsu; she is fluent in English, Italian, Spanish and Croatian, and speaks basic German, Sicilian, Greek and Japanese. She has also created her own fictional language of Züncålidiom which is a feature of her KnM Blade Universe.She enjoys being around her cats– she most definitely is a cat lover, relishes in the company of her family, friends, and, is especially crazy about her wife Jhasmin, the love of her life.Her favourite quote: It doesn't matter what someone tells you, but who tells you.

Book preview

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Kixi Rajki

Copyright © 2024 Kixi Rajki

All rights reserved.

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Disclaimer

I do not claim any rights to any characters that were created or based on those by George Lucas, nor do I accept any payment for this story.

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

About the Author

Prologue

In a Galaxy far far away — 18 BBY.

Even before an off world traveller was close enough to understand why, he or she could tell that Cermau was different from the other planets of the Outer Rim Territories. Somewhat reminiscent to a mythological double headed creature, Cermau was a world of two faces. Travellers were always amazed at how strange the planet looked from space when approaching from the side in which the planet’s capital was situated on. Form there, the view cast not the softer blue and white shades of planets still verdant and unspoiled, but an odd silvery glow that suggested the reflection of sunlight off metal.

The impression was not misleading. The city covered one third of the planet's surface. Yet from space, the remaining two thirds could still be viewed in its natural state to travellers approaching the celestial body from a different direction, hence giving the false impression of a predominantly untouched world.

As far as most things went, the days in which Cermau could be viewed in any sort of natural state were dead and gone. The capital of the entire world had expanded over the centuries, building by building, until it wrapped over a third of the planet. Where the city lay, forests, mountains, bodies of water, and natural formations had been covered over. The atmosphere above the city was filtered through oxygen regulators and purified by scrubbers, and water was gathered and stored in massive artificial aquifers. Unless outside the city's confines, native animals, birds, plants, and fish could only be found in the museums or the climate controlled indoor preserves.

Cermau had become a planet of skyscrapers, their gleaming metal towers stretching skyward in a forest of spear points, an army of frozen giants blanketing the horizon in every direction. Everywhere within the vastness of the cityscape, busy moving sky traffic cruised through the maze of buildings, sliding along the many magnetic guidance lines that directed airborne vehicles. Landing docks that floated near clusters of huge buildings were also commonplace throughout the city.

Ixmucane, capital of Cermau, was a city that had over the centuries amalgamated all other cities on the planet's surface. Not withstanding that at the current exponential rate of its expansion, despite it still being several hundred years away, the planet itself was on the verge of evolving into one mega city or ecumenopolis.  

Laying completely surrounded within the midst of the thousands upon thousands of gigantic man made structures of Ixmucane, stood the majestic grand palace of House Eclipse. The structure by far, wasn't one of the tallest buildings in the city. Cylindrically shaped around its edges, and dome shaped at its centre, the structure was relatively low, and did not soar up to the clouds, catching the afternoon sun as the other structures that surrounded it did in a brilliant display of shining amber.

And yet the magnificent structure was not dwarfed by those towering skyscrapers surrounding it. Centrally located in the complex, and with a design very different from the typical squared skyscraper, the bluish smooth dome provided a welcome relief to the eye of the beholder, a piece of art within a complex community of people. The palace's many pointed towers gave it the look of an eccentric crown. The yellowish walls glistened in the summer sun, and the roof sections separate to the dome were grey in colour.

The interior of the building was no less vast and impressive. Floors were marble, all stair rails were ornate mahogany, carved and polished so that it shined. Family portraits were painted in oils and hung in gold frames. Furniture was all handmade by master craftsmen. Nothing ever got dirty. The air was scented with fresh flowers every day of the year. Each of the many rooms were as big as a three bedroom apartment. 

Around the palace many lush gardens surrounded it, amid the water of the fountains and the perfectly manicured hedges. The sculptures in front of the palace had been made long ago by masters of the craft. Statues of the great Saar’i of the House of Eclipse stood tall and proud, unmistakably representing a long lineage of authority, power, and a force to be reckoned with. The palace not only housed the family of the Eclipse bloodline, its servants and employees, but also their own academy and Temple of the Saar’i Order that presided in it. All this completely surrounded almost within the centre of the city's confines, encompassed by the realm of the glorious capital of the entire planet of Cermau.

And from out and afar, equal in prestige and status, long into the distance, stood another spectacular and magnificent structure. The palace of the House of Sha’rah. With a legacy as rich and strong as that of Eclipse, the two houses coexisted alongside one another in prosperous harmony for many centuries, an undisturbed peace with strong diplomatic relations. Vastly different in structure to that of House Eclipse, yet no less impressive, from a distance, the Palace of House Sha’rah looked to be made entirely of ice. It was a crystal palace, that seemed to grow right out of the ground like a glacier, reflecting light uniquely from the many skyscrapers that surrounded it, and shining like many shards of glass in the afternoon sun. 

***

The constant thrum of the hover-train's movement was the only sound heard. Outside, to one side, the myriad towers of District Xilmatia stood, tall and shining, a common reminder to the testament of the achievements of mankind. On the other side of the train was an artificial lake, seemingly, vast, wide, and gave the illusion of a forever flowing ocean, an admonition of the importance of nature and it's never ceasing importance to humanity.

The afternoon was warm and the air was thrumming with the sounds of the city and it's inhabitants, the greasy scent of street foods lingering in the central plaza of District Xilmatia. Kay Eclipse, the only daughter of Karras Eclipse, head of House Eclipse stood at the base of a building, watching the bustle of the square passively.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could just make out the tops of her father's palace in between the tiny gaps of the many monolithic monads and smiled. She hadn't travelled far from the palace grounds, and although the general populace shared a perceivably warm approach toward her family, she never ventured out alone. From her peripherals, she saw a flash of red and white movement and cast a glance that way. Her two bodyguards were giving small waves to a wayward youngling at their feet. The little one had stopped in front of them, and stared up at them with curious eyes, fingers in his mouth. He stood in a state of shy awe for a few moments before tentatively raising the other small hand up in a reciprocating gesture, a grin forming on his little face. Growing bolder, he reached out to touch the interesting figures in front of him.

But then he was yanked away swiftly by an adult who scooped him up with a dark look at the two armed men, and kept walking without looking back again. One of the bodyguards raised his fingers to his visor in a sarcastic salute to the retreating man's form, and Kay could hear the other bodyguard chuckle over her small concealed comm behind her ear, before both men resumed watching the crowd as well as Kay.

Kay looked up toward the heavens in wonder and fascination. The skyline of Ixmucane was beautiful, dotted with passing speeders and other hovering vehicles. The incandescent walls of skyscrapers covered the skyline of the upper levels, giving Cermau’s capital a ghastly appearance. Through Cermau's thinner upper atmosphere high above the skies of Ixmucane, House Eclipse’s fleet, as well as the large capital ships of House Sha’rah, could be vaguely seen as small flecks of light against the backdrop of the city's clear blue sky. It was humbling. 

Kay sighed as she leaned against a small metal railing. She at least felt alone, glancing outwards, watching the bustle of the city's busy life buzz pass, around her and above her. Yet like many others on the surface of Cermau, her naked eye obliviously told her a different story to the situation that was about to unfold high above.

With the gradual transition from late afternoon to early evening, Kay's eyes momentarily landed across to an intersection and the many passersby. The neon lights of the square cast everything in intermittent soft, fluttering electric blue and pink hues. The citizens were a bustling blur of swift moving speeders and clusters of figures with places to be, things