"How much?"
"It is in progress."
Patrick closed the laptop halfway, then opened it again when he realized nobody was leaving.
Vanessa turned to Mara.
"Get me Ethan Cole's complete personnel file. Fault logs. Change requests. Customer correspondence. Training records.
Every document with his name on it. I want it on my desk in an hour."
Mara nodded and left.
Vanessa looked back at Grant.
"You stay."
Sterling Carrington called again at eight forty.
By then, Vanessa had read Section 3.2 four times and disliked it more each time, not because the language was unfair but because it was precise.
Sterling did not threaten cancellation. He did not raise his voice. He explained the arithmetic of his own business.
"These assemblies go into flight-test articles worth several million dollars each," he said. "My acceptance team is not certifying them because I like you. They're certifying a documented calibration chain. That chain includes an approved verifier."
Vanessa sat at the head of the conference table. Patrick sat on her right. Grant was across from them.
"The hardware is good," Vanessa said.
"Maybe."
"Your own feed shows the line returned to nominal."
"Yes."
"Then we're discussing a documentation problem."
Sterling paused.
"No. We're discussing a confidence problem. Documentation is how confidence survives when the people in the room change."
Vanessa said nothing.
"If Ethan Cole is no longer available, we have two choices. You produce another approved verifier who can demonstrate continuity of the method, or we re-qualify."
Patrick asked, "What would re-qualification involve?"
"Fixture re-baselining, correlation studies, capability data, client review, repeat thermal sequence, and approval through our own review board. Six to nine weeks if nothing else appears."
Vanessa looked toward the acceptance schedule on the wall.
"And the flight-test program?"
"Slips."
"Renewal discussion?"
"Moves until the qualification closes. Procurement will then be obligated to reopen the sourcing evaluation."
Grant leaned forward.
"Sterling, with respect, you're talking about reopening an eight-figure sourcing process because one technician is no longer employed."
The silence on the call lasted two seconds.
"Who is this?"
Grant's face tightened.
"Grant Whitmore, operations director."
"Mr. Whitmore, I'm reopening nothing because of a technician. I'm following the contract your company signed because I am responsible for hardware installed on my aircraft. If Blackwood structured a validated process around a named individual and then removed that individual without completing transfer, that is your operational decision, not my emotional reaction."
Grant's jaw closed.
Sterling continued.
"Can you add another verifier? Yes. Appendix C gives you a path. Four weeks is a reasonable estimate if the candidate is competent and the method can be demonstrated cleanly."
Vanessa asked, "Your team is still coming today?"
"They are already in the air. I'll be there at two. We'll observe whatever you arrange."
"Understood."
"Mrs. Blackwood?"
"Yes?"
"You should know something before we hang up. Ethan Cole is not on that roster because I asked for a favor. He is there because he solved a qualification failure my own engineers and yours could not explain. If you removed him for cause after gathering facts, that's your business. If you removed him because he drank water after fixing my line, that's something I will need to understand before my procurement people discuss another five years with you."
The line went dead.
Grant exhaled.