"Just so. There are certain meditative exercises which are designed to expand your awareness and strengthen control, I presume you are aware of these?"

"I am tempted to say 'Yes, of course', but it would be foolish of me to assume that I had knowledge equal to that of a Dark Councillor on such matters. I know of and have extensively practiced some such rituals, but as I am working from the personal library of a single Sith, significant techniques may well be absent from my knowledge." 

"Then we can go over each in turn."

Occlus proceeds to explain the meditations. They should be familiar to Vincoria.

They are in fact all familiar. Vincoria was not expecting to be surprised - but then again, that's why one checks. 

"Good. These next are along the same lines, but more advanced."

These Vincoria probably does not know.

She recognizes one. A second looks quite a bit like one of her own meditations, developed through trial and error. The others are unfamiliar. 

"Well. On one hand, I've been going about this poorly for decades. On the other hand, now I can stop going about this poorly."

"Indeed. What other techniques do you have experience with?"

"Those that would be expected of any apprentice, along with a half-dozen more advanced techniques that my Master happened to have on holocron, and a few more I invented or refined myself." She briefly lists the techniques that she gained from Diabolus. "As for those I invented myself, the most prominent is the telekinetic technique which I briefly used against you earlier: however, I do not believe you currently have a good understanding of its capabilities and intended use. Would you wish a demonstration?" 

"Please."

"This would be best done with a target for me to demonstrate on. Do you have any convenient scrap pieces of durasteel?"

"Not in the room."

Occlus presses a hidden button on her desk. "Commander Rankin? Bring the corner table from Room Zeta-3 to my office."

Soph suppresses a smile. 

Vincoria nods. "That should do nicely."

And presently a man in an Imperial uniform appears in the door with a table.

"My lord?"

"Thank you, Commander. Just set it there."

"Yes, my lord."

And with a bow, he departs.

Vincoria wastes no time in beginning her explanation.

"The basis for this technique is the 'force push', which some texts refer to as the most basic Alter technique. I'm sure you are familiar with it: I have never encountered a force-user without this basic capability." 

She gestures with a hand, and the table falls over. 

"However. In Diabolus' texts, there is a second technique he describes and names 'Force Rend', which consists of both pulling and pushing on the same object, such that it tears apart. I attempted this technique for some time, but I proved too weak in the force to tear anything much stronger than paper." 

She looks at the table again. "However. Even with my basic level of power, I am more than capable of flinging heavy objects with a force push - practically any half-trained apprentice can claim the same. So... If I can choose to pull and push a thing at the same time, why could I not concentrate the force of a push in a smaller area?" 

She gestures again, and the table's durasteel surface goes 'pang'. It wobbles. 

"Gradually, I refined my control." 

Pang.

A palm-sized, perfectly circular imprint has appeared in the top-right corner of the table, as if someone had put it in an industrial press. 

"And eventually, I began to see results."

Pang.

The dent this time is the size of a fingertip, and much deeper into the metal. Shock-lines radiate outwards from the centre. 

"This is the technique that I pressed against your sternum when I needed to threaten you. I can now sustain this level of force almost indefinitely." 

The dent screeches into a line. 

"However, this is not the intended purpose of the technique. It was created as an efficient means of destroying vital components of targets at long range. It is, in short, an assassination and sabotage technique." 

She points at the table. 

PANG. 

A neat pinprick has been driven all the way through the hardened durasteel. 

"In practice, this technique is meant to be directed at the carotid or femoral artery, through the eye into the brain, or between the third and fourth ribs into the heart. It projects a momentary needle of intense pressure, which is more than capable of piercing Imperial-standard body armor. It is even possible to manifest this technique within the flesh of the opponent, though it is rarely worth the effort to do so: that application is more useful for destroying internal circuitry." 

"Most impressive. Congratulations on your ingenuity, I have not seen anything similar before. How far is the effective range?"

"The technique requires that I have accurate sensory input of the location such that I can aim, but its range far outstrips my natural sense-range in the Force. Experiments via video-link have illustrated that it remains effective at distances up to five kilometers before I begin losing the ability to focus the strike sufficiently. I do not recommend using it at that range against other Force-users, however: I would conservatively estimate an effective range of as little as fifty meters against a force-sensitive target that was aware of and expecting the technique. Naturally I have not had much opportunity to test it against actively resisting opponents, as it is near-impossible to make the technique less than severely damaging. In practice the effective range may well be longer." 

She pauses contemplatively. "Of course, for someone with more force potential than I possess, the effective range might well exceed what I have so far been able to manage. As I have said, I am not particularly strong in the Force."

"Yes, range and potential often go hand-in-hand, but in this case I am skeptical that there are significant further gains to be had. Five kilometers is already an impressive range for directed telekinetics. I suspect that your focus on the efficiency of the technique has much to do with that."

Vincoria nods. "You would be more experienced in this area than I am."

"Will you teach me?"

"Of course. If this technique should ever become publicly known, it will raise far less questions if you appear to have originated it." 

"True enough. But first, some details regarding the proposed orbital battlestation..."

Vincoria nods, taking a convenient chair for the talk on logistics.