Reflections..

Callista stood beneath the clear trickling waterfall, tears streaming down her cheek's as the water dripped slowly down and over her body. A silver chain lay hung around her neck, a dark blue ring hung upon the chain.

Far apart we are but you're always in my heart...

He was always there...

The DataPad opened slowly, letting the motors whirl into place. A low hum came from Power Converters as the monitor came on-line..





A Few clicks on the Key board later and the screen turned black, almost as if trying to blend in with the background of the surrounding room.





Daniel sat alone in the room looking at the screen before him... could she really still be alive? And could he go through with it? He pondered the recent events as he pulled out a pendant from his coat pocket...

"Far apart we are but you're always in my heart...

He was always there..."

Begin Flashback...

Under a tree sat Callista and next to her, Daniel. In her hand she held a dark blue ring. The ring momentarlly forgotten as the two sat looking into each others eyes.

Daniel: "I want you to have this. Take it as a symbol of our friendship...Of things to come, our future..."

Callista: "Daniel...I..I don't know what to say."

She looked down at the ring for a moment, her eyes returning to look back up at Daniel a second or two later.

Callista: "I..I have something for you too."

She placed the ring in her coat pocket, in turn removing a gold pendant from her pocket. She leaned over slightly and placed the pendant in Daniel's hand, gently cupping it closed in his hand.

Callista: "It's what you are to me.."

The two sat in silence for what seemed like eternity and finally he smiled. Daniel smiled but it was a smile that changed everything in Callista's world...[i]

Flashback End...

[i]Callista's tears had slowly begun to subside, yet the water from the waterfall continued to fall down and over her body. Her tears were now replaced by words.

"Daniel, what happened to the promise you made me?..."

4 Years Ago

"I'm leaving Tomorrow.... I'm Sorry" his voice portrayed his sadness as he looked on at Callista. His Eyes trying to tell her he was sorry even as he quickly packed.

"Why? Why so soon?" she asked softly, not fully being able to stare him in the eyes. She avoided his eyes for fear of accepting the truth, accepting the fact he was really going to go. It had only been a few weeks since they had made that promise underneath the Tree. He had known then that this was going to happen, but why hadn't he told her? "What are you afraid of?" She said unexpectedly as her thoughts quickly became vocal.

The question had caught Daniel by surprise as he turned to her. "What am I afraid of? Your asking me what I'm afraid of?" He tried his best to look her in the eye as he asked her, trying to see if she could fully understand how he felt. "I'm afraid of you. Afraid I might not be able to keep my end of the promise. I am thinking more about you then anything else Callista. This is just something I have to do... Forgive me."

"....." Callista couldn't find the words to tell him how she felt, even now she could feel the tears trailing down her cheek. She couldn't face him, at least not now.... She turned to leave his room in tears, but she could still hear one last thing...

"Please...."




That had been four years ago, and that had been the last time he had seen her. They had told her he had died, told her he wasn't coming back. They had lied.... lied to protect her... but why? Why protect her when now they wanted her Dead? Too many questions, too little time.

You weren't supposed to leave me. You promised me!

The tears, they wanted to come again, but Callista would not let them. There was no use for the tears, not anymore. He was gone, he had broken his promise to her. In turn, he had also broken her heart.

Sorry won't bring you back to me.

"Sorry is all I remember now, " she said softly as she looked at the chain and the ring that still hung around her neck.

This is all I have left and it means everything to me, it always will....

Callista stepped out and away from the waterfall, only to have her gray eyes meet up with that old familiar tree.

"This is your Captain speaking. We should be reaching our destination in a little under 30 minutes. I suggest everyone finishes what they are doing before we hit the atmosphere. Thank you. That it all."

The Communication was cut off by a burst of static, not that that was rare on these older cruisers. Daniel had always blamed the faulty wiring for it, either that or someone was playing a good joke with the pilots and crew.

As the cruiser came into view of the planet Daniel once again looked at the pendant...whispering under his breath "30 minutes.......".Could he really be so close? Yet so far away? How would he approach her? Could he kill her? What would he say? Would he Lie? Tell her the Truth?

Daniel would have all the time in the world to think about this as the Cruiser hit the atmosphere, but he only had a limited amount of time to decide....

It had been four years since then, since Daniel had made that promise to her. For four years now she had suffered without him...

Callista's eyes seemed glued to the tree, as if she were in some trance she could not get out of. Her feet seemed to be moving without her direction, as if they were being controled. She stopped just inches from the tree and then...

...She fainted...

"Home...." It was the same word that kept playing again over and over in Daniel's Mind. He was home after all these years, so he should be happy, shouldn't he?

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> "Callista"<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> The word was but a whisper beneath his breath as he moved around the crowd of people boarding and exiting the shuttles. It took a few minutes for him to bypass the mid-morning rush but soon afterwards he had found a Hover Taxi and was on his way to his "Home". Home was a term he used lightly lately and even more so it rang true here. He was on his homeplanet, the place of his birth, but could he go back to his old home? The place where he grew up as a child, could he visit his mother? Of course not. That belonged to the old Daniel, the one who died all those years ago. Now his homes consisted of run down rooms, and those where the good ones. He had lived among the trash of the universe for his job. Instead of being laying at home with his family he was cramped up in dreckholes with whores and drug dealers. The urge had hit him more then once to kill them all, but alas his cover would be blown, plus they where not worthy of his... "expertise".

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> "Sir?"<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Daniel was distracted as the man driving the cab turned to him with a weary smile.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> "We're here sir."<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Daniel nodded to the man as he fished into his pocket and handed the man some creds on the way out. The man took the money with pleasure and sped away as fast as he could, obviously this was not a good neighborhood. I look of disgust formed on Daniel's face as he looked around at his latest surroundings. The buildings around him where falling apart to say the least, to say the most they where expensive means of suicide. He walked towards the nearest one knowing the company would have a room for him, but as he did so he couldn't help but cringe at the distinct smell of urine. It seemed the company had spared no expense with this one, but Daniel would make them pay when he got back... that was for sure....

"Callista.... has it really been so long?" Daniel walked into the building as he let thoughts of the past walk into his head. for now he would escape the troubles of the world by reliving the joys of the past...

Callista awoke with a soft moan escaping her tender lips. Her eyelids slowly fluttering open as she tried to sit up. She looked around, half dazed, half confused.

"Wha..?"

She blinked two or three times, rapidly, trying to be rid of whatever was in her eyes now, water, dirt, she couldn't quite tell.

She slowly arose to her feet, stretching, still not understanding exactly what had happened to her. She shook her head once, lightly. She let her eyes scan the area around her slowly, a small frown drawing to her lips as she did so.

"This place..it is not as it used to be. I miss the days of old..."

Thinking of the days of old only made her think of Daniel. They had been childhood friends, but when Callista had first met him, it felt as if she had known Daniel her entire lifetime, she still felt that way to this very day. Now though, now he was out of her life, without a goodbye...

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> "....chips or creds Sir?....Sir? ....chips or creds?"<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

"Huh?" answered Daniel still sort of dazed from his thoughts on the past. He didn't even remember how he he had gotten from the front door to the front desk. Heck at this point he had trouble even listening to the man speaking to him....

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> "Will that be chips or creds sir?"<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Without even acknowledging the man Daniel threw a few creds his way, before giving him a cold stare as he left. It took Daniel a few minutes to find his room and insert the key card, opening to what looked like a week old garbage site. That's how things where in this part of Verkuyl though, to the rich go to the spoils, and to everyone else go the diseases. It wasn't something he liked to think about but he was out of this area long enough to realize the rest of the world was much the same. He had gone all those years ago looking for something better, something better for Callista, and what had he found? A few Credits and some bad people.. Then again Daniel had chosen to work for those <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> "Bad People"<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, they at least paid better. This was something different though, now the Company was paying Daniel big bucks to kill off someone he knew, someone he cared for long ago... he was beginning to think maybe it was time to tell the company where they can shove their Credsticks.

"Callista, could you really be in this run down town...." the thought passed him like it had before, and before, and even before that. Could he? Would he? The questions where raised even more as he began to unpack, taking aside one special briefcase and opening it up. Inside where the parts needed for a Class 3 Sniper/Blaster Rifle. He would only need one shot to do the job, but could he even take that shot???

"I need time to think.... and I know just the place."

Daniel smiled for the first time in awhile as he closed the briefcase and took it with him. He would go to the place where the memories began and ended so long ago. He would go to the Tree where Callista made that promise to him and he had made a promise to her.....on he could not keep...