Having returned to the Bridge, Commander Kennedy sat silently in the command chair of the Achilles, having relieved Commander Shaw of command. The bridge was beginning to settle down, activity returning to normal levels.

The majority of the ships senior staff had arrived and those that hadn't were due to come aboard at a later time and place.

Scheduled to depart the following day, the Achilles had taken aboard a group of 4 Cadets, all in their final year at the Academy. Cadets eventually going in to the Communications, Science, Helm or Tactical Departments, all were the most promising members of their class, with the highest scores in their tests. All had great potential.

Cadet Bren was the one Cadet that Stuart saw the greatest potential in. She knew many foreign languages, ranging from Klingon to Romulan and even Andorian. She was the ideal choice to be a Communications Officer and showed great promise. She could understand more languages than any of the senior staff, apart from Lieutenant Malanantor of course. He was supposed to be a specialist in his field and a person Bren could learn a great deal from.

Kennedy had requested that once the Bolian woman had completed her final year of the Academy, no matter how much of that year she spent on the Achilles, that she eventually be reassigned to the ship.

The other Cadets were rumored to be envious of Bren and her reputation that she had gained in only three years. Apparently Cadet Galloway was the one Cadet who took the experiences and reputation of Cadet Bren seriously, believing herself to be better than the Bolian and she was determined to do all she could to make sure that she graduated the academy at a higher level.

But none of these rumors phased Stuart. He would treat each of the Cadets with the same level of authority and with the same level of respect and he would make sure that those senior staff working with the Cadets did the same.

Stuart had been informed that Captain Ethan Styler had reported aboard and gone down to sort out his Marines. But still there was no word on the Starfleet Observer apparently assigned to the Achilles to oversee Stuarts command.

As he waited silently, the staff working away diligently, Stuart spotted an Andorian man enter the bridge and stand off to the side silently. After a few brief moments Stuart waved the Andorian across and noted the Lieutenant insignia.

"Lieutenant Malanantor?" Kennedy queried quietly, offering his hand to the Andorian male.

Tyvor shook the commanders hand. "Reporting for duty, sir."

"Welcome to the Achilles, Lieutenant. I trust she meets with your needs?" Kennedy queried as he released the Andorian's hand. The man, to Kennedy anyway, appeared to be the complete stereotype of Andorians. Tall, white hair, bright blue skin.

"Indeed, I have never had the experience of serving on the Excelcior class of starship before. The communications capabilities of this vessel are more than adequate to facilitate standard operation."

"I'm glad to hear it Lieutenant." Kennedy retorted with a small smile. He waved his hand in the direction of a side station. "Well, there's your station Lieutenant. If you could send out a request for any remaining personnel to board, we can get underway early." The Commander continued to smile.

Malanantor nodded curtly. "Of course, commander." With that, the Andorian stepped to the right of the chair, walked up the steps, and took his seat at the wall-mounted communications station. Pulling open a drawer located underneath the input panel, he picked up his headpiece. It was one of the newer models, with a small end to fin snugly into the ear, a thin polymer headband to arch the top of his head, and a very thin, clear tube running from the earpiece to near his mouth, which clearly contained his microphone. Thumbing a tiny switch on the earpiece, the unit linked wirelessly to the console.

He turned to the display on his station, and activated the internal communications system. With the comm on standby, he patched into he starbase comm unit, and activated the channel. Throughout the ship and station, the familiar low-high-low whistle tone played.

/ Attention please. This is the final boarding call for the USS Achilles, NCC-two-zero-zero-six. All Achilles personnel are to report to docking unit Beta. This is a final notice. /

The Andorian turned to the commander. "Message transmitted, sir."

"Very good Lieutenant." Stuart nodded slowly.

All they could do now was wait for a few more minutes before requesting permission to depart from dock.