"I thought you were going to teach me how to use a knife," Kassia said, looking at the wedge-shaped piece of red chalk Tarik handed her. Both were clad in white jumpsuits akin to those used by fencers.
"I am. This is just to start, until you learn enough control to use a live blade. If you score a hit, the chalk will leave a mark, like this," Tarik demonstrated, running the chalk across his wrist. It left a broad, red mark.
Kassia nodded, seeing how that made sense. "Okay, what do I need to do?" she asked.
"First, we're going to learn the basic knife grips. The first is the regular grip. Hold the knife in an overhand grip, with the thumb overlapping the index finger and the blade perpendicular to the ground. Keep the cutting edge up," Tarik said, demonstrating the grip to Kassia. Kassia watched him, and imitated him perfectly. "Good! This grip is good for close-range fighting, and it's the strongest of the four basic grips."
"The next grip is an underhand grip. Hold the knife perpendicular to the ground, blade pointing up and edge out. Keep your fingers close on the handle, with your thumb overlapping the last joint of your index finger--that's it!" Tarik said, nodding as Kassia correctly gripped the chalk knife. "This is the second-strongest of the grips; it's useful at medium range but only gives you a limited range of movement."
"Now we'll try the straight grip. This is a long-range grip; it gives you the greatest freedom of movement but it's the weakest grip. Place the butt of the knife in the heel of your hand, like this," Tarik said, demonstrating, "extend your thumb along the side of the handle with the index finger directly below. That's it. Now, curl the rest of your fingers around the handle. Keep the blade horizontal to the ground, edge up. Good!" She's picking this up fast! Tarik thought, noting that the telltale signs she was reading his mind weren't present.
"Finally, we have the tearing grip, sometimes called the modified overhand grip. This gives you more range than the underhand grip and allows you the same flexibility as the straight grip with added strength. However, it is weaker than the underhand grip. Extend your thumb on the handle behind the blade. Keep the blade vertical and wrap your fingers around the handle, index finger just below the thumb. Very good!"
Kassia seemed pleased with herself at being able to imitate the four grips so precisely. "Now, show me each of the grips," Tarik said. Kassia demonstrated all four flawlessly.
"Excellent! I think we're ready for the next phase. Remember one thing if you remember nothing else: if someone comes at you with a knife, there is a very high probability that you will be cut. Practice situations are never the same as the field. The trick is to keep on moving. Now, in slow motion, I want you to come at me with the regular grip from a distance of about two meters."
Kassia stepped back and moved toward Tarik at a moderate pace. Tarik stepped foward and to the left, then delivered a slow-motion kick to Kassia's groin, followed by a hammer blow to the back of her skull. "Now, you try that on me," Tarik said.
Tarik came at Kassia with his knife. Kassia executed the maneuver flawlessly. "Are you sure you're not reading me?" Tarik asked. "It is a definite advantage you have there, but you have to be prepared in case you run across someone or something you can't read for whatever reason!"
"I'm not reading you!" Kassia said. "Once I saw it, it just...made sense. I don't know how to explain it!"
"Okay, then--we'll try this at full speed."
Tarik rushed Kassia with the knife almost before she had a chance to get ready. Kassia in a split second had delivered the kick and the blow to the skull. Had it not been a practice situation, Tarik was pretty certain he'd be unable to stand up afterward.
"Fantastic! Now we'll try defense against the underhand grip. This is a little more complicated. Step back again, and come at me with the underhand grip."
Kassia did as told. Tarik stepped forward and to the left, and as Kassia brought the knife up to stab, Tarik made a quarter-turn to the right, pulled the knife down with his left forearm and delivered a palm-strike to her chin with his right hand. Then, gripping Kassia's right hand, Tarik turned the knife to the outside and followed that movement with a kick to her groin. Continuing to twist Kassia's arm, Tarik brought her to the ground and simulated a stomp on the diaphragm. He followed that with a simulated foot-strike to her forehead, relieving her of the knife.
"Now you try it. I think you're ready for full speed," Tarik said, smiling.
Tarik came at her with the knife. In less than three seconds Kassia had demonstrated the technique with nearly expert skill!
"Outstanding!!!!"
They continued drilling, Tarik showing her the defenses against the other two grips.
"When do I get to learn how to use the knife for myself?" Kassia asked. "Knowing how to defend against a knife is fine and good, but I want to know how to use a knife on someone!"
"Bloodthirsty, aren't you?" Tarik said, grinning. Kassia grinned back. "If you're going to show me this stuff, show me everything!"
"Now that you know the basic defenses, you're prepared to counter them, and to learn how to attack. Before you can walk, you have to learn to crawl, and in all probability you're more likely to be facing a knife than you are to have one handy," Tarik explained.
"That makes sense," Kassia said, realizing just what Tarik was saying.
"Now, we're going to learn how to counter the defense for the regular grip," Tarik said. "I'll come at you in slow motion with the knife; you defend just as you did earlier."
Tarik came at her with the knife; just as Kassia began to kick Tarik turned out of the stance and behind her, grabbing her arm and driving the knife at her back. A large red chalk mark was left on Kassia's back.
"See what I mean? Now, you try that with me--full speed!"
Kassia came at Tarik with the knife; just as Tarik was preparing to deliver the counter, Kassia spun out and delivered the blow to Tarik's back. "Excellent!"
They continued, learning countermoves to countermoves, and before long both Kassia and Tarik were covered with red chalk almost from head to toe. "You know, Kassia, you're really picking this stuff up well!"
"It must be the teacher," Kassia said coyly.
"You compliment me too much! Have you ever had your memory tested?"
"Not really...I finished my basic schooling, and Clarize trained me in things specific to my abilities, but beyond that not a lot of rigorous academic work. I guess the need never posed itself," Kassia answed.
Tarik retrieved a PADD from a nearby table. He made some additional notes. "I'd like you to read--as time permits of course--the following materials. Most of this should be in the station library; if not, I have these items in my personal collection."
Kassia read over the list. "Sun Tzu's Art of War, Thucydides' Peloponnesian War, the Chronicles of Kahless, Solak's Annotated History of Pre-Surak Vulcan...these are all old history works! What relevance could they have?"
"If you know the history of a people, you're that much closer to understanding them," Tarik said. "Sun Tzu, the great Earth warrior-philosopher, once said 'Know yourself and your enemies; in a thousand battles, win a thousand victories.' Read the list and you'll find a lot of literature there, too. Once you get done with that, I'll start you on mathematics--I was near the top of my Academy class in mathematics. It's good for focusing the mind."
Tarik noticed Kassia looking and feeling a bit intimidated. "You don't have to read all this at once, you know--just something to work on."
"Oh, no! I'm looking forward to it!" she replied. "It's just that..."
"What?"
"It's silly, really. I'm so used to men in my life trying to hold me down and make me into their little show piece. This is all so different! First all this training, now the reading. I've never had anyone try so hard to empower me before!"
"Get used to it," Tarik said, smiling. "Now, shall we get rid of all this messy chalk dust?"
Kassia smiled back. "Your place or mine?"