Private Conditioned Resolve

[Shade]

Shade did not move immediately when he demonstrated the technique because her crimson eyes were fixed entirely on the gathering tension and the purposeful release of the Force around the blade. She watched the energy coil before the impact, her expression remained analytical and composed as she let the full weight of his explanation settle in her mind. When she finally spoke, her voice carried a quiet shift in tone that suggested she was already mapping the practical application of the principle he had just revealed.

"I understand the principle as an extension of my own methods that has simply been given significantly more weight," she said while testing the idea against her own instincts. "The precision path is the only one I would consider for my work because the second approach sacrifices far too much control for the sake of mere saturation."

She met his gaze with an unwavering clarity that was not a dismissal but rather a statement of her fundamental operational reality. "I do not approach my engagements as a means to eliminate everything in my path, and I will always choose to remove a threat without killing them if the situation allows for it."

Her eyes flicked briefly toward the embedded dagger before she returned her focus to him with a sharpened sense of intent. "Control is my highest priority, so if this can be refined into a tool that disables instead of destroys, then it holds a great deal of value for me."

She shifted her stance to signal her readiness to move from theory into practice. "Show me exactly how to stop someone with it."

Vulpesen

 

[Vulpesen]

Of course, as he had mentioned, her preference didn't surprise him in the slightest. Shade was a woman who preferred surgical quiet strikes to bombastic assaults, that much was plain to see if one observed her for only a moment. However, her next request and its underlying parameters elicited an apologetic wince from the Valde as he called the dagger from the dirt back into his hand. "What you ask is learned through experience. Think of shooting a blaster. Its feasible to aim for the leg or the hand. But such a small target, in the heat of battle, with a moving enemy is all a recipe for disaster. I advise striking at center mass, not because killing is the goal, but because its the most likely way of stopping a threat to your life or the lives of others."

The dagger rose up to twirl lazily above his palm. "Control is earned through practice. Thankfully, I think you've already got a good grasp on it. Still, recognize that this technique as I've shown it is hurling a supersonic metal blade, larger than most slug thrower projectiles, into your opponent. Such attacks are, generally speaking, incompatible with life." There was a hardness to him as he spoke, a solemnity that came with the understanding of what it meant to take a life. "I spoke earlier of the dangers of Jedi Dogma. In their attempt to keep me from learning esoteric skills that looked dangerous, they forced me to become a weapon of increased lethality."

Shade

 

[Shade]

Shade's gaze did not waver as he finished, the weight of his words settling without resistance, without deflection. There was no argument in her, no need to push against what she already understood.

"Then I will not pretend it is anything else," she said quietly.

Her eyes flicked once to the dagger, tracking its motion before returning to him, steady and certain.

"I have seen what doctrine does when it decides what should and should not be learned." A faint pause followed, not hesitation, but precision. "What it blinds. What it creates in the absence of understanding."

There was no bitterness in her tone, only clarity.

"I have been fortunate enough to avoid both Sith and Jedi dogma."

Her chin lifted slightly, resolve settling into something quiet and immovable.

"I intend to keep it that way."

Vulpesen