Lyrics: "Moondust," by Jaymes Young. (The Sound Remedy remix – again, very important to find the right version.)

Chapter Nineteen

I'm a castaway.

Men reap what they sow,
And I'll say what I know to be true.

Meanwhile...

They brought Stonewall back to the lab.

Somehow, he thought it was for the last time.

As before, he was strapped to one of the long, shining tables. As before, he was restrained to the point of immobility, though this time he did not fight. Only a few days here was too long. Like the other men of The Dregs, he'd come to accept his fate, though he had tried to make provisions against it. At least this time he wasn't naked.

There were several Kaminoans, but he only watched Creon Dai's movements, never taking his eyes off the elder long-neck even as one of the others shaved his head while yet another pressed a hypospray to his neck – a tranquilizer or numbing agent of some kind, for a languid haze seeped through his veins an instant later. Despite the tranq, there was a flare of apprehension when another long-neck attached a few of the sticky-nodes to his now clean-shaven skull and jammed an IV into his arm. Stonewall tried to calm himself with a deep breath, but the Force-suppressing collar around his neck seemed to press tighter.

Creon Dai stood over him, cool gray eyes sweeping over his form. The shabla datapad was in his slender fingers, and the aiwha-bait muttered instructions to his underlings. Stonewall tried to listen, but the tranqs made his hearing fuzzy and the words were muddled.

All but one: "...ready."

By now his body was numb and his thoughts were sluggish, so he felt only a faint sort of vibration, beginning with his head and spreading through each limb. It wasn't painful, which he found odd, almost laughable. Wasn't it supposed to hurt, to have his entire self stripped away?

He tried to chuckle, but his body wouldn't move. Gray eyes flashed his way, then someone angled a light directly above his own eyes, making him squint. The momentary discomfort pulled him out of his drugged bewilderment and reminded him of something important.

Quickly, he made a mental examination of the wall in his mind, ensuring it was high and solid. As he did, the vibration strengthened to a buzz, as if he stood next to a blaring speaker. Stonewall's bewilderment faded completely and his focus sharpened. He inspected his mental wall, pacing the perimeter, running his hands along the cooling stones, checking for fractures. There were none.

Except...

A Kaminoan spoke above him. "State your designation."

Stonewall gritted his teeth at the distraction, but replied before he could stop himself. "CC-3077. Captain Stonewall. Shadow Squad. Seventh Sky Corps."

Here. An aperture, large enough for his hand. It was significant...he didn't know how or why, but it was vastly important that this gap be sealed.

The vibration increased. It felt sort of like he was caught at the beginning of a hyperspace jump. "State your designation," the Kaminoan said.

"CC-3077." He paused, because the next part was fuzzy in his memory. "Captain... Shadow Squad. Seventh Sky Corps."

Back to the wall in his mind. He ran his palm over the aperture, trying to think of what he could do to seal it. How had he created the rest of the wall? Panic set in – had he created it, or was it an illusion, a byproduct of...whatever the long-necks were doing to him?

"State your designation."

"CC-3077. Captain. Shadow Squad. Seventh..."

Memory failed him again, but he fought the instinctive fear of the loss. He would not let himself panic now. That much, he could control. He took a deep breath, ignoring the tightness of a collar around his neck and the steadily increasing vibration throughout his whole self. Distractions. He pushed them away and focused on the aperture in the wall. He pressed both palms against it and concentrated...

The Kaminoan's voice was seaglass-smooth. "State your designation."

"CC..." There was a number on the edge of his memory, but he could not find it. He had too many other things to focus on, anyway. "Captain. Shadow Squad."

The stone around the aperture was gray and smooth, flecked with something that sparkled even in the haze of his mind. He had to fill the gap, so he imagined more of the same stone, taking the shape of the open space beneath his hand. There was no time to question why he did this, or if he even could. There was only was urgency, a driving need to perform this action.

More vibrations. Stronger, of jarring his teeth and rattling his bones within their cage of muscle and sinew. Threads of pain wove through his consciousness, but he ignored them. There was another thread, not one of pain, but some other, more pleasant thing reaching for him, but he ignored that, too. All that mattered was the wall.

"State your designation."

He exhaled in annoyance. "Captain. Shadow Squad..."

Something else was missing. It didn't matter. Only one thing mattered. He gritted his teeth through the vibrations and pain, and focused.

Gradually, a stone appeared in the slot, perfectly formed to fill the rectangular gap. Without hesitation, he shoved it in place, pressing his shoulder to the spot to wedge it in. When he mentally stepped back to examine his work, he saw with satisfaction that the stone fit perfectly in the wall. Only a few tiny cracks of light bled through. Now he just needed to seal the gap.

"State your designation."

Kriffing hell. He couldn't remember. If he tried, he knew somehow that he'd fail this final step with the wall, so he only blurted the first thing that came to his mind. "Shadow Squad."

Cement. That's what he needed. Quickly, he found some and worked it into those final cracks, spreading it with his forefinger and thumb to ensure a perfect seal. It was paler than the gray stone, and dried instantly. Or so he imagined.

There. It was done. He mentally sat back with relief, though the longer he looked at the wall, the harder it was to remember why it existed in the first place. Something important was behind it...

A flare of pain struck him, pulling his attention away from the wall. Pain was always a warning. His body ached and his muscles were tense, automatically fighting the constant vibration. Each thought was sluggish.

"State your designation."

The answer should be easy. But when his mouth opened, only a single word slunk free. "Shadow..."

Someone else spoke. "The unit's readings have stabilized."

"Biological functions are normal; brainwave patterns correlate with established parameters."

"Midichlorian count also remains stable."

The voices sounded similar, all calm and smooth. There was one, though, that stuck out, as it held a measure of satisfaction.

"Good. Then it is done."

Across the stars, Kalinda Halcyon's eyes opened, but she saw only shadows.

Everything had slowed to a halt, even her own heartbeat. Her breath; her body. Too still.

It wasn't possible. It couldn't be...

Just in case, she tried to reach him again, shutting away every other distraction, sense and feeling. But...

Gone.

Stonewall was gone.

No...

The thread that had connected them for so long was severed. There was nothing left of him but her memories, and the new life within her body, but that wasn't enough, not right now. She was alone. She drew the Force to her, hugged it close and wrapped herself within it. So shielded, she was hidden from the others, whom she could not bear to face.

Kali experienced her husband's absence like a physical thing, as if someone had reached into her chest and pulled out her heart, and she gasped at the shock of it, the pain. This loss did not eke away at her already fragile control. It ripped the galaxy out from under her feet and sent her falling.

Heat tore at her eyes and throat, but her body was encased in ice. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe or speak or even think.

Stonewall was dead. Kalinda Halcyon shattered.

A/N: Another difficult chapter to write.

Next time: Something a bit different; a sort of flashback.