She meant that as praise.
Real systems usually changed through workflow, permissions, audit rules, staffing, and incentives.
Not speeches.
On day forty-five, the outside review concluded Rebecca had violated passenger dignity, physical-contact, de-escalation, and nondiscrimination policies. The findings also determined that her prior complaint history showed repeated conduct inconsistent with Skyward standards and that prior management responses had been materially inadequate.
Naomi received the conclusion after the employment committee had already voted.
Rebecca was terminated for cause.
Because Naomi had recused herself, the recommendation came from HR, legal, labor relations, and the outside ethics panel.
She read the letter alone in her office.
There was no satisfaction.
Only finality.
Dennis Morrison was terminated two days later for conflict-of-interest violations, interference with complaint handling, and improper records access. Regulators and prosecutors continued reviewing whether any of his conduct crossed criminal lines.
Paige received a written final warning, retraining, and a six-month monitoring period rather than termination.
Her failure was serious.
So was the evidence that fear of retaliation had shaped it.
Marcus received a commendation for intervention, but Naomi refused a proposal to market him publicly as a hero.
"He did his job," she said. "Make that normal."
Captain Hendricks received coaching and a formal note for failing to escalate earlier concerns about Rebecca's pattern.
He accepted it without appeal.
The most difficult meeting came afterward.
Naomi sat across from the executive team and asked one question.
"How do we know this isn't happening somewhere else right now?"
Nobody had a comforting answer.
The answer to Naomi's question required a broader audit than anyone had originally planned.
Skyward selected forty-seven branches, bases, and route groups for review. Investigators sampled complaints involving crew conduct, customer removal, seating disputes, disability accommodations, language barriers, and reports of discriminatory treatment. They compared which complaints were escalated, how long they remained open, whether witnesses were contacted, and whether repeat allegations against the same employee were detected.
The results were uncomfortable without being catastrophic.
Most employees were doing their jobs well.
That fact mattered because reform built on the assumption that an entire workforce was corrupt would fail just as badly as reform that denied problems existed.
Still, the audit identified eight employees with repeat complaint patterns that had never triggered central review. Three cases involved possible disability discrimination. Two involved passengers with limited English proficiency. One involved repeated hostility toward Muslim passengers during secondary identification checks conducted by gate staff. Two involved race-based concerns similar, though less severe, to Rebecca's history.
None had been handled consistently.
Naomi presented the data to the board without dramatics.
"This is what the incident gave us," she said. "Not proof that everyone is bad. Proof that our pattern detection was bad."
The board approved funding for a permanent passenger-dignity review office with independent reporting authority to the audit committee rather than operations alone.
That reporting line was deliberate.
Operations leaders, including Naomi, were responsible for keeping planes moving. Sometimes that pressure created blind spots. A complaint office that depended entirely on operations could become vulnerable to the same incentives it was meant to monitor.
Naomi did not exempt herself from oversight.
"If this office ever needs my permission to investigate my department," she told the board, "we have rebuilt the problem with a nicer name."
The passenger-dignity office began by reopening selected closed cases from the previous three years. Not every complainant wanted a phone call. Some had moved on and found the outreach intrusive. Skyward learned quickly that accountability could not require victims to relive an experience for the company's benefit.
They changed the outreach script.
Former passengers were offered information first. Participation was voluntary. Compensation reviews did not depend on telling the story again if the company already had enough records to evaluate harm.
Janet Williams accepted a call from Naomi only after the outside review ended.
Naomi had debated whether to make it.
She did not want to turn Janet into a symbol.
Janet answered on the fourth ring.
"Dr. Richardson?"
"Please call me Naomi."
"All right."
There was a pause.
"I wanted to apologize," Naomi said. "Not for Rebecca personally. For the institution. You told us what happened and we treated your complaint like noise."
Janet was quiet.