My eyes fluttered open as my AI mentally poked me. “Hormonal imbalance detected. Would you like to attempt to correct this issue?”

  “No,” Mentally, I felt like I was in heaven. Why would I ever want to correct this feeling?

  Courtney shifted against me, rousing gently. I pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, my smile spreading wide. As she tilted her head back and our eyes met, her relaxed and contented expression filled me with warmth. Leaning in, I drew her closer and our lips touched in a light, tender kiss.

  At first, she was stiff and unresponsive but slowly she seemed to relax. Her mouth opening and tongue pushing into mine. Her hand ran down my body as mine brushed her nipples. My member came to instant attention as she ran her fingers along it. Before we could get any further, the bed fell out from under us.

  We had all been trained for fighting and maneuvering in all environments, including zero-g. But training did not mean you were ready for a real-world situation. My mind kicked into high gear as the ship’s alarms started to blare. “All crew, all crew.” Came the ships AI through all the channels and speakers. “Battle stations. Unknown hostile fleet detected.”

  Grabbing Courtney’s hips, I boosted her out of the bunk. Pushing myself against the far wall. “Gravity failure in sections seven, nine, twenty and engineering.” My AI said as I kicked off the wall to exit the bunk. Courtney tossed me a uniform from the rooms slot.

  Hurrying to put it on, I asked the AI. “Where is my team?”

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  “You are to report to repair team Charlie.” A map of the ship popped up in my head showing me where the team was in real time.

  Courtney finished dressing a moment before I did. She stopped just inside the door. Her hands grasping my shirt and pulling me to her as she smashed her lips against mine. Letting me go, she said, “Stay safe.” Before pulling herself down the hall to the armory.

  Exiting the room, I turned in the opposite direction. Crossing the ship diagonally to join the repair team. I made good time through the section, able to pull myself along with little to no stopping thanks to the lack of gravity. It only was an issue whenever the ship lurched. There were a few times I nearly collided with one of the bulkheads as the ship turned sharply.

  Finally, I reached the central shaft. Gravity returned, though only to one third earth normal. That was normal for this section of the ship. The core designed to ferry goods and people up and down the ship in times of emergency. Gravity pulling the people to the walls of the shaft.

  People using the diminished gravity to leap up and down the shaft in long, shallow, fast jumps. I joined them, flying up the center of the ship. Covering the two-mile distance in under five minutes.

  Dropping through the hole in the floor, I twisted as gravity reoriented nearly ninety degrees. The hall was dimly lit. Lights flickering on and off. Panels askew and wires sparking. None of that really worried me, not when I noticed the hole in the wall. A hole that had nothing on the other side but a light shimmering glow. A hole that went from nearly the center of the ship to its outer hull.

  That was nearly three hundred meters. I know that most of that space is open, but a good chunk of it was solid armor designed to take damage and ablate off. Something had punched right through it like it was nothing.

  Looking down the hole, I saw people scrambling at each wall. Some were already pulling solid pieces of metal into place and getting into place while others were cutting and grinding their walls flat. There was no one near the hole in front of me. So, I did the only thing I could, I turned off my brain and let my training kick in.