4:25 PM Courage Heavy Cruiser
Bryan slowly dragged himself into his room, barely even feeling his legs and feet moving him. Exhaustion had set in long before he'd even got back aboard the Courage. It was eating away at his strength, like being slowly digested by an unknown monster. His boots seemed as heavy as anvils on his weary legs. He could feel the sweat starting to form on his forehead and upper body. The pilot jumpsuit he still had one was supposed to be used for flying, a mini-life support system, and was not to be kept on for too long outside of the cockpit of an X-Wing, for a very good reason. It got hot in the things after about an hour. Bryan wished they had told him and the others that the attack was still two hours away, so none of them didn't have to wear their flight suits for the last hour and fifteen minutes.
He flipped on his door chime. Finally in the privacy of his own room, he immediately tugged at the zipper on his flight suit, un-zippering it all the way down to his naval. The next thing he knew, he was slumped in his favorite, and most comfortable, armchair. The cool feeling of air blowing on he chest and neck was almost intoxicating. Sitting back, Bryan closed his eyes and sighed, breathing somewhat heavily, but nothing serious. He hadn't felt this good since...since he'd last kissed his lovely Rosy...no, nothing could equal that good feeling...since...oh, who cared for comparisons. It just felt good.
It felt like forever until Bryan finally rose from that chair. He wanted to sit there for the full two hours if he could, but he knew he'd hate himself if he did. A, he still had a few things to do before relaxing; B, he still had to go and see his friends and the Lounge; C, if he didn't take the suit off and take a shower before he got back to the X-Wing, he was gonna gag himself to death in the cramped, sealed cockpit. So he got up, took off the rest of the flight suit, and dumped it into a disposal chute. He then showered and twenty minutes later sat down, fully refreshed, at his computer terminal.
The next minute he was looking at his messages. One from Maxie asking him to come to Open Mike Night on the Liberty yesterday–he really needed to check his messages more often, one from Emilie telling him about his promotion to Field General which he hadn't deleted yet, one from his old co-worker and friend Rick Bonardo reminding him that Bryan owed him money, and one from Clara saying "hi," and telling him she was now here and was participating in the attack.
He ended up deleting them all because they were all old, and made a note to get back to Rick.