You can open with nerve, which -- believe it or not -- is one of the better assassin openers. If you don't want to go with 'blindness dust' or strangle, this is the one to go with.

Also, every nerve attack stacks and drops dex/str by -2. If you don't want to scare your mark with a massive kansetsuwaza/kotegaeshi, this is the way to lure them in to stay longer. This is why you'd use nerve in combat, like she does here.

Finally, given the damage that Jakaline is dishing out here with nerve, she has 'exploit vitals' edge, which improves the nerve skill all around: gives the bigger damage, you execute it slightly faster and (I believe) it maledicts more than your standard -2.