Free Below by Kaitlyn O'Connor

want to.
    Raphael frowned. After a moment, he rose and moved away, pacing the room. “Quinton and Albert are programmed machinists. They would probably be best suited to work on the communications tower.”
    Victoria blinked. It took her a moment to realize he’d changed the subject completely. Finally, she nodded and turned to the schedule, writing their names down. “Any others?”
    “None specifically programmed to work on communications, but Caroline and Barbara both know electronics and Xavier is an electrician.”
    Victoria added the names to her list, then frowned, set her pen down and flipped through the files on her crew. “We’re hopelessly understaffed without the crew that we were supposed to be joining, but I’ve worked with Brown and Tuttle before. They know their way around a processor. It shouldn’t take them long to figure out the setup here. We’ll need some welders to repair the access cover ... and I’d like to beef it up. I think we’re going to have to assume that whatever happened here, it’s something we’re going to have to contend with, as well.”
    * * * *
    Working on the schedules reminded Victoria that, although they had finally found the work logs, she had left them on the upper level when she discovered that Huggins had departed without them.
    Once she’d posted the schedules, she decided to go up to retrieve them so that she could study them. Without a word, Raphael fell into step beside her. Oddly enough, she found it comforting, rather than irritating. Distracted as she was, she would have gone up alone, even knowing that it was not safe for anyone to move about the habitat alone until they knew more about what had happened. Even if she hadn’t been distracted, she would not have liked to demand an escort. It was all very well to point out that, logically, every man and woman was at risk. It still smacked of fear to ask, which translated to weakness, which was something she could not afford if she was to retain control of the situation on Kay.
    She didn’t notice Roach until he spoke.
    “And there goes Ms. Tory with her faithful watchdog,” he muttered as she and Raphael passed on their way to the stairwell. Victoria stiffened. She would have stopped and confronted him except that Raphael urged her onward.
    “Why did you do that?” she snapped as they started up the stairs.
    “It’ll be best to ignore him.”
    “If you think that, then you’ve no understanding at all of the type of creature he is,” she responded tartly.
    “No, I don’t. Enlighten me.”
    Victoria felt her irritation vanish. It was difficult to get used to the idea that Raphael had so few experiences to fall back on. “He’s a bully. Ignoring him, or trying to, isn’t going to do any good. He’s spoiling for a fight. He’s not going to be satisfied until he gets one.”
    Raphael frowned. “Bullies are generally cowards.”
    “Bullies are always cowards,” Victoria responded. “But no two people handle fear the same way, any more than they handle any other emotion the same way. My instincts tell me Roach isn’t going to be satisfied until he’s convinced his fears aren’t unfounded.”
    “And what do you perceive as his fears?”
    There was a touch of amusement in his voice now. They’d reached the landing on the next level and Victoria paused, turning to look at him. “He’s not certain he’s man enough to control me, but he’s determined to have a try.”
    All traces of amusement vanished from Raphael’s expression. His eyes narrowed. “I won’t share you,” he said flatly.
    Victoria was taken aback. It was on the tip of her tongue to inform him that it wasn’t his decision to make. Instead, after wrestling with her temper for several moments, she merely shrugged. “Under the circumstances, there seems to be a very good chance that it’ll never be an issue.”
    It was obvious from his expression that her comment was neither expected, nor welcome. He frowned. “That’s not