Thomas almost smiled despite himself.
“What do you want me to say?”
“The truth.”
“What truth?”
“That your company had data showing a pattern and lacked the systems to see it.”
Thomas looked down.
Alexander continued.
“And that leadership owns that failure.”
Silence.
Elena asked, “What about your own role?”
Alexander turned toward her.
“What do you mean?”
“You activated the integrity process knowing the operational consequences.”
“Yes.”
“Do you plan to address that publicly?”
Maya looked toward Alexander.
It was a good question.
He answered slowly.
“Yes.”
Kenji’s eyes lifted.
Alexander continued.
“I should.”
That was not in the original plan.
But he knew immediately it was right.
The agreement took four more hours.
Lawyers refined language.
Operational teams verified controls.
Nexus began restoring full transaction capability in stages.
First crew assignments.
Then dispatch synchronization.
Then routine logistics functions.
By evening, Transatlantic’s network was moving again.
The airline had not been destroyed.
But it had been shaken hard enough that nobody could pretend nothing had happened.
Thomas Davies made his public statement the next morning.
He stood alone.
No dramatic backdrop.
No corporate music.
He described the seat reassignment.
He acknowledged the false operational coding.
He confirmed the independent investigation.
Then he said something nobody in his communications department had originally included.
“We have spent years measuring whether flights leave on time. We have not measured carefully enough whether every passenger is treated as though they belong on the ticket they purchased.”