Lucas requested the maintenance log for that service. When it arrived, he found that an access panel near the avionics bay had been removed during the work; yet, the corresponding entry in the record was almost blank, missing the kind of detail a thorough technician would normally include.
Lucas opened the panel himself, working only within the boundaries he had permission to access. He was not interested in shortcuts. He identified a single point of electrical contact that showed subtle signs of irregularity and asked the team to run the proper certified test procedure rather than take his word for it.
Jason retrieved a calibrated meter and tested the connection exactly as Lucas had asked. The results confirmed what Lucas suspected: a data connector installed during the prior maintenance visit had not been seated to the correct specification, creating just enough instability to send faulty signals cascading through several unrelated modules. It was a small, almost invisible flaw, the kind that rarely announced itself until the worst possible moment.
Jason stared at the readout in disbelief. The module Connor had wanted to replace for nearly $200,000 was completely healthy; swapping it would have solved nothing, and the real cause would have remained buried inside the wiring, waiting to resurface.
Lucas gave his recommendation plainly: ground the aircraft, replace the faulty connector with a properly certified part, and complete a full inspection and functional test before returning it to service. He made no attempt to patch the problem himself and send the jet on its way; the fix belonged to the certified process, not to a shortcut performed under pressure.
Grace studied him for a long moment before asking what he wanted in return.
Lucas answered without hesitation. "$20," he said.
Grace looked at him as though she had misheard the number entirely, and the hangar fell into an uneasy silence around them.