Kit looked him straight in the eyes and said with a little anger in her voice, Are you sure? Its not what I heard.

Steven looked taken aback and stared at Kit in shock. He hadnt thought that what had really happened, had become public knowledge. Yes its true She did assault my wife.

Kit took control of her emotions and said to Steven in a slightly raised tone of voice, I dont believe you Steven. I have been keeping an eye on McCutcheon for the last 6 months and you did file a restraining order against her but not because she assaulted your wife. You had entirely different reasons to want to keep her away from your wife. She almost added that it was because his wife cheated on him with McCutcheon, but she quickly bit her tongue. Waving his wifes infidelity in his face like a red flag would not be wise at the moment.

So, if thats the only reason you have against McCutcheon then its not a good enough reason to not give her a chance as the pilot for this mission. And if you stand by your opinion, I will have to take this matter to the next level She let her voice trail off as she let the implication of publicizing this matter to officers at the senior levels sink in.

Steven looked at Kit with anger in his eyes and finally relented his rage not only at McCutcheon but also this infuriating insolent woman barely contained.

Fine Kit. You win. Do as you wish. You can have McCutcheon as the pilot for the mission, but if she fails, be sure McCutcheon wont be the only who will have to pay for it. And with that he stormed out of the office.

Kit took a deep breath of relief and looked at Harry and said to him, Thank God. I guess we dont really need to discuss the position of electronic engineer. We only have one person who passed the simulation for the electronic engineer and its Dana Fairbanks so Fairbanks it is. With a resounding thud she closed her file glad the matter was resolved.

*****

The two young women whose lives were about to change had no idea of course exactly how big the impact of Kit Porters decisions would be on their lives. Theyd both independently of each other decided to attend the party thrown for the entire space station personnel. The brass had thought it would be an excellent way to boost moral.