Julian growled in frustration when he saw that the small militia of thugs that seemed to be overpowering Anessa and Sapphira. He jumped forward again with the opening he had, swinging a punch at King's temple. He hoped that King would be so adjusted to seeing the younger Julian attack with his feet that the punch would surprise him. "So let me ask you something. Suppose you got your way and that little goon squad of yours managed to kill Sapphira, you really think that Earth would have any sort of deniability? Why would anybody on mars ever want their own fighter dead? It would still cause the kind of war that you're claiming that you want to prevent! What are you really after here, King? What's your agenda?"