Pronounced straining arches ribbed the center of the expansive hall. Wide windows streamed in the evening sun. The evening atmosphere and the Class-B star's light combined to bathe the banquet hall in a deep blue-purple light. As the evening progressed, articulated lights perched upon each chandelier slowly engaged, transitioning the room into a paler purple. Each light rotated, working in tandem with the six-dozen other lights to equally wash the room in the same color. Of their own accord, the lights shuffled as the sun shifted towards the distant skyscrapers.
Fifty tables stood neatly in a grid, six plates on each. Table settings were already in place for each guest. Salads, tea glasses and silverware, were available for each guest, and the tables were made complete by intricate decorations spiraling upward in arches, much like the sweeping architecture within Priaxia Gamma. As etiquette dictated, and as Ashton’s mother taught, such pleasantries were not to be engaged with until the banquet was formally started.
Ashton's gaze wandered from the high ceiling, to the gently adjusting lights, down to his father at the odd end of the room, speaking quite animatedly toward his employee.
His father’s dress shirt carried the Caltrice Personal Shopping emblem embroidered on his chest pocket, and below it his name, Silas Caltrice. Stardust Cruises was on Ashton's dress shirt, surrounded by stylized stars in the form of their logo.
"You're staring again." His sister reminded.
Ashton broke out of his daze. He must have been staring at his father when his thoughts wandered.
"Apologies. Just lost in my thoughts." He smiled at his sister Alice. She only acknowledged him with a cold stare.
"Get out of your thoughts, then. We're in public, you should be socializing." She turned to the other lady at the table. "You too, Avery. You're pouting like usual."
Avery resisted sticking her tongue out like usual, and only scrunched her face in response. She tilted her chin up, certainly in superiority, rather than obeying her older sister's commands. "Sit here and look pretty? For the three people here?"
The room, as large as it was, in truth, only had two guests at present. They all had high positions within his father’s company, Ashton noted.
"You know what father says," Alice said, "Early is on-time, and on-time—"
"—On-time is late, yes, i understand…" she huffed out, only wanting to put an end to Alice’s canned response.
Avery has come close to making her family late many times. She already had enough of the expression the second time her father told it. None of it didn't stopped her from taking her time, anyway. "You really sound like dad now."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
Avery’s expression soured more. She reasoned herself to not make Alice even more frustrated. The rest of the night would have been ruined if she did, and none of them wanted to deal with an argument in the middle of a banquet. With a look, an uneasy truce was signed between the two sisters.
"You best not be tired now. Father still has a presentation to give."
He suppressed a sigh. He knew exactly how one of father's presentations could go, and stars-forbid he starts showing pictures. It was a grace that he was allowed to wear his Stardust Cruise uniform. He wasn't sure if he'd survive in a suit coat. "It's going to be another long night, isn't it?"
Alice scoffed as if it wasn't even a question worth asking.
Avery rolled her eyes. "I’ll bet you fifty credits that you have to give a speech."
Ashton's eyes widened. "A speech? He's never made me do a speech."
"He would have given him some time to prepare," Alice rebutted.
"Fine. If dad makes him come up to the front, its twenty. But if he makes him talk, its fifty."
"Bargained over like like an auction on the day of my celebration." Ashton playfully rolled his eyes. "If I talk, it's forty."
Avery cracked a seedy smile at her successful bargain. She flipped her hair back in a show of smug confidence. "Really appreciate the donation. Your charity is very much appreciated."
Alice was poised to reply with something snotty, but she held herself back. She and her siblings noted the quick influx of guests. None had made any glance or congratulations towards Ashton, which led him to believe all these guests were from his father's company. It seems the aunts and uncles would be fashionably late, as always.
Avery lazily drew around the edge of her glass. "Was the pilot’s test difficult?" Avery suddenly asked.
"Well…” he stopped to think about his answer. “Not as hard as I thought. The instructor had me do some basic maneuvering through a course, scanning a beacon, supercruise… simple for a practical test. It was admittedly difficult remembering what to say to Flight Control." He had almost forgotten entirely, but Ashton wasn't going to admit that so openly.
"You mean all the stuff you say to the station when you're landing? Isn't that all automated, though?"
"It is, sometimes. Older ships require you to tune the frequency and address Flight Control manually. Even if you’re in a newer ship, if the systems are damaged, you still need to do the same. For the test they gave us a Sidewinder—a smaller ship," he added, for the one at the table who didn't have each ship memorized, “and the instructor spoke through voice comms."
Avery cocked her eyebrows. "Seriously? They gave you a Sidewinder?" She chuckled, as if the very act was an insult.
Ashton shrugged. "It wasn’t too bad, but it was pretty slow. The practical was much easier than I expected; the knowledge exam was the difficult part. I couldn’t quite remember the class specifications—"
"Ashton, please. Save the 'ship-talk' for home. I can't stand your talk of 'thrusters' and 'scanning' and whatever." Alice used the mom-look on them both. "We're in public, Ashton."
Avery's momentary interest was immediately extinguished. She went back to fiddling with the water glass in front of her.
Ashton was going to back down, like he usually did, but he started to think. "But that's the entire reason why we're here, Alice. I passed the test, and we’re celebrating. I think I should be able to talk about this today.”
Alice made no objection. She only looked at Ashton blankly. “Your collar’s flipped.”
Before the silence could get uncomfortable, the rest of the Caltrice’s extended family finally arrived. Many dozens of congratulations were shared with Ashton, and he gave many thank-you's in kind. Before long, the remainder of the room filled with Ashton's far and extended family. He remembered all their names as best as he could, for someone that always talked with his siblings during family gatherings. He surprised himself despite being so reserved, able to remember the names of a few of his cousins.
Before too long, his father approached the stage and officially commenced the banquet. He announced the first course, a simple pot roast. A dozen men, dressed in all black, began systematically plating each table.
"Seeing as we're celebrating my son's graduation into a Pilot, I thought it fitting to return to origins. The very origins of humanity, our Earth, could easily have been described as simple. The early centuries of humanity focused entirely on a single planet. The entire world was just as undiscovered as our galaxy is today. Horses gave way to cars, cars to trains, and trains paved the way for airplanes, the fastest mode of travel in that day. It took a two full days to circumnavigate the earth in that time. I felt that a simple pot roast represented well what humanity was at that time: simple and small, yet rich with flavor and history. Our servers will be carrying out your first course in just a moment. Enjoy."
With a gentle bow that befitted a Caltrice, he stepped off the small, elevated platform. Just as quickly, he strode to Ashton, Alice, and Avery's table. Servers plated five seats on Ashton's table.
Avery offered a half-grimace, half-smile at her father. "Congratulations. You made a speech out of food."
"We still have the second and third course, Avery." He noticed her pushing the carrots to one side of her plate. "You should try those, Avery. Those carrots are the real deal."
"They're still carrots, dad. You know I don't like them."
"Just try them. You'd be surprised how different Earth carrots are from our own."
Her curiosity peaked at the mention of Earth carrots. When she gave one a begrudging nibble, a confused, yet pleasantly surprised look showed. "They're very… sweet."
"I was surprised too. They're not nearly as nutritious, but that sweetness apparently comes from the natural sugars of the plant."
She only hummed pleasantly in response as she speared another carrot.
Ashton tried a carrot himself, confirming the sweetness. He also noticed an apparent stringiness to the carrots. "So you had carrots shipped all the way from Sol?" He asked his father. "I imagine it was extraordinarily expensive."
"They aren't quite Sol carrots. I still made sure they were as close as possible, though. Still, I was surprised to learn my network reached so close to the Sol system. I still had to pay a hefty premium, of course." His attention diverted as his wife approached the table. "Oh, honey, I'm glad you made it. I hope Percy didn't give you much trouble this time."
She flashed a momentary smile. "No, not this time.” She set down a small bag at the seat. I still don't know how had you managed to forget to put me on the list."
His genuine small went into a grimace, only for a moment. "I did double-check it this time." He buffered his words with a small bite of pork. "Any results from the optomotrist?"
Her brow furrowed. “Now, Silas?”
His smile fell as she noticed her sober look. He hesitated for a moment. “It can wait until after.”
Her gaze shifted to her children, and back to him. Finally, she let out a drawn sigh. “No, you all should know. He's only seeing further degeneration. At this rate, he suspects I might go blind in the eye before we can find a treatment plan."
Ashton looked towards his mother. As a child, you always think that your parents are invincible. Ashton neared the age where his parents' humanity would begin to show.
"Is there any way we can help, mother?" Alice asked.
"No, not yet," she said, tucking a stray hair behind her right ear, "but when you can, I'll be sure to accept."
An odd, comfortable quiet continued, accented by the quiet conversations of the room. Avery had already finished her food, now sipping away at her water glass. Alice's plate was still a quarter full. Ashton reasoned that, at this rate, the banquet would go on well beyond midnight, seeing as this was still the first course. He stopped himself from sighing.
"Quite large portions for tonight," Mrs. Caltrice noted, "I hope you don't plan on dessert."
Ashton knew well that dessert was accompanied with a "tasteful" amount of alcohol.
"They weren't happy the last time I didn't serve any."
She scoffed, with no true malice behind the gesture. "So, what, you're going to give in to their demands?"
"It doesn't help when I'm their boss. If they get upset, they leave."
"Let them! They apparently don't have the dignity to accept a loss, anyway." Even as she argued, a smile still stood tall.
"They're still good employees. Maybe they deserve their desserts."
"Maybe they just want to get to your alcohol."
Ashton's father made no challenge. "It's good wine."
"See how it comes back to bite you? You spend all that money collecting, and you can't even enjoy it yourself." She stopped after taking a sip of her glass, and looked at the glass strangely. "All this talk about wine, and I half expected to be drinking it."
"Just say the word, and it's there."
"I can hold off far better than you, Silas," she offered with a carny smile, "I can wait until desserts."
Ashton, Avery, and Alice all gave each other the same, awkward look. This kind of banter between their mother and father was normal for banquets. Each time, all they could do was stand and eat in silence until the "arguments" ceased.
"Our final dish for tonight is a family recipe, recreated perfectly by our cooks in the back. Achenar steak cordon bleu, paired wonderfully with veal schnitzel—complements to my dear wife.
"Our family has lived here for a half-dozen generations now. We've seen first-hand the rise of the Empire among oppressive rule. My grandfather fought well against the Federation, and I know he passed with confidence that he had done his part in fighting for the Empire, both in war and in the chambers of the senate. My father started Caltrice Personal Shipping because he saw a void. He filled that void by centralizing and modernizing nearly every part of the process. Like the days of the American's pony express leading into their postal service, he made moving items across the galaxy safer and cheaper.
"When I was young, he often told me about his company's early days. Himself and just a few of his friends were the only employees he could afford. The company's profits rose and suffered—each month was a struggle. But, he kept at it. As soon as his profits stabilized, he paid his own friends for all the time they spent working with him. He made sure that his company's foundation were firm. Like my father, my son Ashton has worked hard to build his foundations. All himself, months before he took his pilot's test, he secured himself a transport job. I saw he was up late at night, studying the material, understanding the hundreds of rules, laws, and stipulations, just like my grandfather would. And the fruits of his labor? He passed with flying colors, and he'll be flying a cruise liner tomorrow! This is why I'm holding this banquet tonight; for my son Ashton."
All eyes turned to him, each man in the room of two hundred giving their applause. He stood and smiled. Of course his father had to brag on him.
He didn't mind. A small part of him felt the applause was well deserved.