"All your life, " Obi-Wan said, "you have prepared yourself for a great challenge. As all warriors do. "

No response.

"Do not think I don’t know how you feel. Your warrior clan could not protect the hive from Cestus Cybernetics. They have power beyond anything your people can match. And so you feel that even your death cannot free your people. Even the best effort you can manage is not enough to fill the need. So deep in your heart you feel that there is nothing. "

Jesson finally looked up. "You understand this? "

"It is the same on planets all over the galaxy, " the Jedi said. "Whenever there are conquered species, the warriors are the first to be oppressed. Because they are the most dangerous. "

"Seventy . . . sixty-nine . . . sixty-eight . . . "

"All my life, " Jesson said, "all I’ve wanted is to fulfill the function I was appointed at birth. As my ancestors did. When female, to bear healthy eggs, to learn and heal and teach. When male, to fight for my hive, to keep it safe. Perhaps to die. "

Jesson looked up at Obi-Wan, faceted eyes glimmering with hope. If the offworlder could understand his misery, then perhaps, just perhaps there was a way out. There was an answer.

"And then when G’Mai Duris regained leadership of the hive council, you had hope. "

"Yes! "

"Fifty-four, fifty-three . . . "

Obi-Wan fought to keep his voice calm, although he felt the urgency boiling within him.

"And when you were chosen to be the one to find and bring back the royals, you thought that this was your chance. This was your opportunity to serve the hive. This was the moment of glory! "

"Yes! "

"It still is, " Obi-Wan said. "All warriors dream of conquest, of glorious victory or glorious death. But none of us knows the price of our lives. None of us knows the worth of our deaths. That is for others to decide, after we are gone. All we can do is struggle, to fight with both courage and compassion, to sell our lives dearly. And later, after the battle is over, others will be able to decide if that sacrifice was in vain, or whether it was the deciding factor. Some of us must place our lives on the altar of sacrifice. Others on our dreams of victory. "

Jesson gazed up at him, some small measure of hope and understanding creeping in. "And if I fail, and the royal eggs die? "

"Then you will have done all that you could, serving the hive with all your strength. "

"And if my failure costs your life as well as my own, Jedi? "

Obi-Wan spoke as kindly as he could. "My life was forfeit the moment I set myself on this path. Tread not the path to war seeking to preserve life. That is a fool’s dream. Seek to live your days honoring whatever principles you hold dear. Work to gain the highest skills of which you are capable. Sell your life dearly. "