He looked at her. "I want the record to show that you offered a passenger one hundred thousand dollars and a confidentiality agreement before asking the full set of questions about how she was treated. That decision belongs to this conversation too." Petra glanced at the recording device and said nothing.
Naomi's face appeared on the conference screen as her video connection was admitted from the waiting room. She wore a plain dark sweater and had the sharp, alert look Maya knew from difficult negotiations. Beside her appeared Evan Brooks, Williams Meridian's general counsel. Naomi looked from Maya to Douglas and then to the folder on the table. "I see we're past introductions," she said.
Evan spoke first, making the boundaries clear. Maya's personal complaint would proceed through an appropriate legal process, independent of any commercial negotiation. Williams Meridian would not use the possibility of a contract award to pressure Crestline into a private settlement or dictate employment penalties. At the same time, the firm's obligations to its own employees, investors, and clients required an immediate review of whether Crestline's handling of the incident demonstrated material failures in the practices the proposed program was intended to address. The planned signing could not go forward automatically.
Douglas nodded stiffly. "I understand. We can postpone the ceremony a few days." Maya looked at him.
"Not a ceremony. The decision." His eyes narrowed slightly. She continued. "You cannot purchase reform the way you purchase a new logo or a more expensive cabin interior. If your first instinct when confronted with evidence is to silence the witness, then an analytics platform will give you better-looking charts and nothing else."
The chief financial officer, Christopher Abbott, finally spoke. "What would meaningful change require?" Maya turned toward the screen. It was the first question from the company leadership that sounded as though it might lead somewhere useful.
"For tonight, preserve the evidence and stop minimizing what happened. For the larger contract, authorize an independent review of the complaint-handling process, including how passenger conduct reports are created, amended, and challenged. Then let that review inform whether a partnership is possible at all."
Douglas looked pained. "An independent review will take time." Naomi answered for Maya.
"Then it takes time. We have spent a year negotiating a program intended to protect trust. It would be irrational to sign it before examining evidence that the decision-making culture may undermine the entire implementation." Petra nodded reluctantly, recognizing the argument was commercially sound even if it was painful for the airline. The board member who had asked about the appendix requested copies of the original risk analysis, including the sections management had proposed removing.
Maya looked toward Lena. "Before any of us start talking about software, I'd like the nurse who saw this incident to explain what happened medically." Lena adjusted her chair and spoke with the same direct clarity she used during emergency handovers. She described Maya's symptoms, the reported allergies, the absence of suitable food after the confirmed tray was diverted, and the importance of responding to a passenger's medical concerns without turning requests for help into disciplinary accusations. She also acknowledged that she had not performed a complete hospital evaluation in flight and was not presenting a final diagnosis.