War With Cardassia

In the meanwhile, the urgent need of starships to fight against
 the Cardassian Union, saw the Southampton transferred
 to the war zone and until it dry docked in the fall of 2364,
 she was extremely active in either combat actions
 or civilian colonists protection.

During his short tour with the Breen, Andrews had gathered a lot
 of information about guerrilla warfare that proved much
 useful while coordinating the attacks with the civilian
 militia that made endless terrorist attacks against the Cardassian military.
 The Southampton destroyed five enemy cruisers
 and ten merchantmen, including two of the first and 4 of the later,
 under the acting command of Thomas Andrews, since the ship's
 captain had been injured in an accident. During this time,
 he also meets a colonist named Francesca di Napoli,
 that owned a restaurant in border zone and they both became friends.
 Anytime the ship would  dock, Andrews would eat all his meals
 at his friend's restaurant, taking the chance to also
 meet her husband Paolo, at the time serving in Star Fleet too.

These last events were the excuse starfleet was looking for,
 and finally decided the Irishman was fit to be a full ranked
 captain, no matter how young he could be and being so,
 he was sent to inner Federation territory where he would take
 the command of his first ship...