The Academy Years

It was then in 2343 that Thomas, then with 15 years of age, embarked
 on the USS Horizon a old and decrepit cruiser that for
 many years had served Star Fleet under the name of USS Excalibur,
 NCC - 1705. This ship, a Constitution class ship commissioned
 in 2223, had been converted to "Constitution Refit"
 and recommissioned in 2270 but after a century of service,
 she was not fit to serve with starfleet anymore and was
 purchased by Thomas's grandfather in 2295. By that time, the
 new Enterprise class was already under construction and a new
 USS Excalibur had been handed over to starfleet. The Horizon,
 was one of ships that ASH Ltd. used to protect its interests
 from pirates and Klingon renegades alike on those troubled
 years. Thomas spent a year on that ship and saw the wonders
 of space exploration, even that for the first couple of months
 the boy had cursed all those that had forced him aboard.
 The ship was old, and did not benefit from Star Fleet's
 high standard of maintenance... with a hull that was over
 100 years old and most circuits only half that decrepit, there
 were commonly several minor, or moderate, breakdowns to which
 Thomas would assist and take notes like it was the wish
 of his father.

Eventually, after a couple of encounters with plunders,
 the Horizon went back to the home port and Thomas was
 greeted by his family. The ship had engaged and destroyed three
 marauders intending on attacking the company's interests
 and Thomas had behaved remarkably in his first ever space
 cruise having sustained the stress of actual combat situations
 and as such, was now a "grown man" and fit to take over
 the family's company... unfortunately, after seeing that much,
 the boy wanted to see even more. So, to his family's frustration,
 he enlisted himself in starfleet academy at age 17.
 He wondered around the first year, not knowing well what he would
 do after graduating... maybe be a pilot. Anything else looked
 too much violence and would detour him of the
 joys of space travelling.

Only in the second year did he chose what to do.
 Star Fleet was asking for intelligence officers that were fit for dangerous
 missions aboard class one and class two ships. Andrews
 rejoiced. The ones that would eventually complete the course
 would even infiltrate territories interdicted to the most
 common of the ships. He sign in for the program that ran parallel
 to regular Academy course and finally went aboard the
 training ship USS El Dorado for his graduation cruise. During
 the cruise, an accident occurred in one of the ship's labs
 and a fire broke out, killing an instructor and injuring several
 cadets. In the ensuing fire combat, Thomas would help to
 save the ship together with all available hands not before two
 decks were brunt to a crisp.

First cruise interrupted, Thomas was sent to the USS Dahlgren
 to then complete his training which he did without any
 major incidents.