Nathaniel learned about the offer before the board session began. He listened to Preston's description, then asked whether the proposed public statement had been reviewed by Claire's team. Preston said it was still being drafted. Nathaniel asked why Mason's endorsement had been requested before the draft could be independently verified. Preston had no good answer, and Nathaniel stopped taking notes long enough to look at him directly.
"We do not need a story that helps us survive tomorrow morning," the chairman said. "We need a company we can trust to survive ten years from now. If you don't understand that difference, then we have a problem bigger than the Sentinel."
The board hearing began without the ceremony Cassandra had prepared for the qualification demonstration. There were no banners in the conference room, no journalists waiting behind the doors, and no polished model aircraft on the center table. Outside counsel had requested a closed session so the evidence could be examined without exposing sensitive program information. Representatives of the federal customer and contract oversight office attended through an authorized review process, and every person present was reminded that the purpose was to establish an accurate record rather than assign a dramatic ending to a public quarrel.
Mason arrived early. He wore his ordinary shirt and brought a single folder, because the documents he needed were already lodged with the investigators. He took a chair near the wall and watched Nathaniel Carrington greet the government representatives. Nathaniel looked tired in a way Mason understood. For the first time in a long professional life, the chairman appeared uncertain whether the company whose name had defined his family could survive the habits its leadership had developed.
Cassandra entered with a team of attorneys and her head held high. Her composure remained impressive, although her eyes moved repeatedly toward the sealed evidence boxes. Preston followed with a separate legal adviser, a change that nobody commented on but everyone noticed. Gideon sat far from both of them. Laurel and Wesley took seats near Claire's team, their notebooks open, prepared to acknowledge decisions they wished they had made differently.
Claire began with a timeline rather than an accusation. The authorized supplier had reported a delay. The operations office sought a cheaper commercial substitute and described the proposed change as a schedule recovery measure. Engineering had warned that the substitute lacked the required qualification, but the approval process was bypassed. Uncertified material entered bins labeled as if it met the program specification, and that material spread into production before a quality inspector discovered the discrepancy.
She paused long enough for the facts to settle, then continued. Mason had filed a critical nonconformance and stopped the prototype's scheduled test. Cassandra had removed the hold tag and dismissed him after he refused to certify the part. Another fastener from the same commercial supply was installed, the material identifiers were changed, and the test proceeded without a documented engineering approval. Nineteen hours into the run, the fastener fractured and the chamber's automatic protection system halted the test.