Will was up early, far earlier than Abigail was. He had a conference with Jack and Hannibal to attend. He quickly got dressed and wrote a note to Abigail, telling her to help herself to the replicator if she wanted. She was free to go anytime. He skipped breakfast—not feeling hungry—and walked off down the hall.

When he reached Jack's office, Hannibal was waiting inside, but Jack was not there. The doctor had obviously been up all night working, he had that slightly off look about him.

"How did dinner go?" Hannibal asked as Will took a seat beside him.

"She was upset at me for telling you about her plan, but other than that it went well. She's probably still asleep on my couch. She passed out in the middle of some movie." Will rubbed a tired hand over his face.

Hannibal smiled, "Perhaps we could still steer her away from Miss Lounds."

"I'm open to suggestions."

"We should take her into the holodeck. We could play though one of the programs with her."

"And win over her heart?" Will laughed.

"Perhaps she will be more likely to listen when she is happy with us. And if not, then she is an adult, she can make her own choices regardless of our opinion."

"I just hope she doesn't still want to write that book," Will said, "I just can't see it going over well."

Hannibal sighed, "Will, sometimes all you can do is take a deep breath and watch things play out."

"But she's still just a kid, you can't expect me to do nothing while she messes up her–" Will was cut off as Jack entered the room.

"What do you have for us doctor?" Jack demanded as he walked over to take a seat at his desk. The mood in the room suddenly shifted to something very much more serious, making Will realize how close he'd let Hannibal get to him. Their discussion almost felt domestic.

"Twenty-nine different bodies have been discovered, all complete, from a range of different species. They have been matched to the reports that have listed them as missing, although a few of them were not reported at all."

"Any idea what he did with the soft parts of the body?"

"He stripped it from the skeleton before leaving them in that room, that much I can tell but it is hard to say what he would do with them before that." Hannibal frowned.

"Anything else?"

"It has been confirmed that the five partial skeletons are of a male half human-klingon, two female bajorans, a male cardassian, and a male andorian."

"So it is, each of the senior officers then?"

"Yes, and the skull that was left staring at the entrance was of a male betazoid."

"Betazoid, not half human?"

"I do not believe so, captain."

"Well, I have only been here a short while. Maybe it was just there as a placeholder," Will mused.

Jack absently nodded before thanking Hannibal. "Thank you, doctor. If that is all, you are dismissed. Get some sleep. Will, I want you to go over these people, look for a pattern." He gestured to the list of victims. "I want this settled as soon as possible. Our station has been chosen as a replacement venue for a large cardassian-bajoran-marque conference. We only have fifteen days to prepare."

"Why here?" Will withheld a groan.

"Because the original venue was half ripped to pieces by an anomaly and because we have you. So, I want this settled." And that was that.

So, Will looked for a pattern. He looked and looked and didn't find a single thing. It was hopeless. It was a seemingly random group of people. There were a few more male victims than female, a few more Klingon and Ferengi, none of the victims were any younger than teenagers by the terms of their respective species, but that could all just be coincidence.

After coming to no conclusion, Jack screamed at him a bit before he went off to his duties in operations.

"Are you doing alright?" Alana Bloom asked softly, startling Will slightly. He hadn't spoken to her many times since his arrival, but he still thought she was alright.

"I'm fine," Will shook his head.

"Seeing something like that can't be easy for you."

"It wouldn't be easy for anyone." He had always been uncomfortable when people were sympathizing with him. It started a sort of empathic pity loop, which wasn't the best really.

"It's not as bad as some of the things I saw with the resistance." Katz said darkly from her station.

"Where were you stationed?" Alana asked.

"Anywhere they needed me. I was always on planet fixing up machinery, so I was traded around a lot. The problem was getting through the bodies to the machines, fixing things wasn't half that bad." The bajorans had little in the way of supplies and so had to constantly reuse and repair what they already had, despite the condition it might be in. "Where were you stationed?" she asked Alana

"I ran numbers in the capital. Statistical analysis," she said, "And I also was on a council seeking out allies like the Federation."

Will felt Beverly's scoff, although her face revealed nothing. She thought that Alana was a spoiled little rich girl. Sure she'd run statistics and making choices like that was a hard thing to do, but there was so little contact between cells that hardly anyone would have been able to listen if they wanted to. "Oh," she said instead, "We had someone in our cell who's working with the Federation doing that now."

"I can't say I miss it," Alana smiled.

"I can't say I miss hiding out in caves eating spiders."

"Are you sure?" Zeller asked, "You eat enough Klingon food to make me think you do."

"That's different? Klingon food actually tastes nice, cave spiders don't!"

"Whatever you say, bug breath."

"Oh, very mature."

XxxX

Will had a therapy session with Hannibal that next morning. It was really meant to be half therapy, half data analysis. They were talking about the victimology right out of the gate, although there wasn't much to draw from it. Messages were being sent out and bodies were either being sent out to families, picked up, or disposed of in whatever way was deemed appropriate by the individual's will, if they had one.

"I'm not sure what else to say about this guy other than he's one cold son of a bitch," Will said, "I mean, it's just hard to say what type of murderer he really is without the flesh to tell us the story. I mean, I hate to say it but, without anymore evidence we can't go anywhere with this." It was incredibly frustrating.

"Surely, we can narrow the list of individuals that it could be," Hannibal reasoned.

"Yeah, I've gone through that list and there are still about a hundred people it could be. If I add in some sort of medical background, then about sixty."

"Can't you go through the computer records and check what they were doing at the time?"

"The computer deletes that information after about a month to make room for more data, so I'd only have the evidence from the last person who went missing."

"Still, that's a start."

"But it could still be someone who's not on the list. Someone sneaking into the the station," Will sighed.

"We'll just have to wait for new evidence. Do you think he will strike again, even if we've found his graveyard?"

"Probably, but not in the same way. He'll be glad we found this place, he thinks upsetting Jack is amusing and he's definitely arrogant enough to think we won't catch him."

"Then I will say it again; we only have to wait."

"Fine," Will mumbled, "Fine."

"So, what do you think about taking Abigail to the holodeck tomorrow night?" Hannibal asked, switching gears.

"Has she decided to go through with the waitress job?"

"I believe she will."

"Fine, as one last effort to make her see sense. What program should be play?"

"I believe that is a question we should ask her."

"Should we ask now?"

"I don't see why not, there won't be a better opportunity with both of us being so busy."

Will called her up and she answered after a beat. "Hey, Abigail."

"Hi, are you in Hannibal's room? I can see some pretentious looking art in the background," she said, making Will laugh.

He looked over to see Hannibal frowning at Abigail's comment. "I'm in therapy at the moment. Anyway, we wanted to know if tomorrow night you wanted to play through a holodeck program with us."

"What sort of program?"

"Any sort you want, it's your choice."

"Well, how can I say no to that?" she grinned, "Can we play a fantasy one or an adventure?"

"We can put them both together, if you like. A fantasy adventure sounds like fun."

"Just as long as it isn't a murder mystery," the bajoran girl said.

"Yes, that sounds good. Well, thank you Abigail. Your input will be taken into consideration."

"Glad to help."

Will hung up and turned to Hannibal. "Well, any ideas?"

"I believe so."

"Let's do this."

XxxX

Before going down to the holodeck, Hannibal had suitable attire replicated for them. The clothes replicated those of the medieval period of Earth in the winter. Will was dressed rather like a peasant, Hannibal like a lord, and Abigail like a knight.

"Okay, here's the situation," Will explained to Abigail as they walked, "You are the king's most promising Knight, so you have been sent to investigate the happenings in a nearby village. There have been stories of people going missing out there and rumors are making the kingdom nervous."

"Who are you two then?"

"You'll just have to find out."

"You can't just tell me?"

"No, where's the fun in that?"

"Fine, let's go."

They set off toward the holodecks only to find them locked.

"It appears we will have to go to Freddie Lounds if we want to get in," Hannibal said.

"I'll ask her," Abigail said, "she doesn't seem to like you two."

Will looked unhappy, but she did it anyway.

"I can't believe you want to work for her," Will grumbled.

"She is free to do as she likes, Will." Hannibal said.

She gave Hannibal a sideways look. "I fell like you are going to tell me that you're not angry, you're disappointed."

"I don't know, I'm at least a little angry," Will grumbled as Abigail walked off. Hannibal placed a heavy hand on his shoulder.

"Deep breaths, Will."

Will gave him a dirty look and rolled his eyes. Abigail returned soon enough.

"It's open now," she said.

Will tuned to the door which has opened as he had taken a step closer. "Computer, set program fantasy seven-seven-two."

The scene changed but Abigail was not allowed in. "Okay, we are going to get into position. Wait about five minutes and then come in, okay?"

"Got it."

When Abigail entered the holodeck she was standing in a throne room before a worried looking King.

"Something wrong, my lord?" she asked.

The king signed, "I've been hearing startling rumors from one of our villages to the far east. They had the greatest crop yields this autumn and the winter is harsh, we could use all of the resources available to us."

"Would you like me to investigate, my lord?" Abigail suggested, thinking that was probably what she was supposed to be doing.

"Yes, that would be for the best, I think." The King looked relieved, "Will you be fine on your own? There have been dragon sightings and I'd like to keep all my Knights close."

"I will be fine, my lord." Abigail said, although she did not know what a dragon was.

"Good, you are dismissed, I'll have a servant ready your horse."

Abigail gave a polite bow and followed one the the servants from the room. As they walked Abigail took the opportunity to ask about the dragon. "Computer, what is a dragon?"

"Dragon: A mythological monster originating on earth. Typically, fire-breathing; a symbol of chaos and evil." Came the computer's cool response.

This must have been Will's idea then, it did appear that they were on earth, at least from what she could tell. The people certainly all looked human.

"Your horse, m'lady," the servant said, pulling a large animal after her.

Abigail gave the beast a weary look. She didn't like the idea of riding a creature that she'd never even heard of before. "Computer, take me to the village," she instructed instead. The scene abruptly changed and she was standing at the entrance to a village where people milled about. The time had changed to nearly dusk, presumably to represent the time change of travel Abigail had skipped.

The place looked fairly normal, if a bit rundown. There was a sprawl of houses, surrounded by open field, and it was all covered in a light blanket of snow.

"Looking for a place to keep your horse, m'lady?" came a familiar voice.

"Will," Abigail smiled when she turned to see him standing there in his get up.

"Ah, you must have magic if you already know my face and yet we have never met before," Will grinned.

Abigail giggled, "Yes, well, as it happens I am looking for a place to keep my... Um, horse. Would you know of such a place?"

"As it happens, I own the stables and would be glad to store your horse. For a small price, of course."

"Oh, yes of course. Will this do?" She pulled out a small purse and tossed some coins Will's way. It wasn't like she really needed to worry about money when she could just ask the computer for more.

"Very generous, m'lady," Will said, taking the horse and guiding them toward the stable.

"So, what can you tell me about this village? I've heard that there have been some strange incidents," Abigail enquired.

"Ah, I was hoping the king would send someone to us. We've been having a bit of trouble with–" Will was cut off by a scream from outside. His head snapped up and the two of them ran to see what was the matter.

There, in the center of the village, was Hannibal on the back of a terrifying looking black horse. Will swore under his breath as Hannibal began shouting at the villagers.

"I've come to collect what is mine," he announced, He drew a long sword from its sheath as he hopped off his stead. "Seventy gold pieces and I'll be back in two days, or the sorcerer and you'll be rid of me. Or perhaps I should just start killing one of you every day and taking your money until you give them up."

Not a word was spoken from the villagers as they began digging around for gold. Abigail began to step forward, but Will grabbed her arm and pulled her farther into the shadows.

"If he sees you, he will kill you. He does not want the king to know of his presence here."

"I'm a knight of the king," Abigail protested, "I can't just let him bully innocent people into paying him off."

"Then wait and go after him when you know what you are getting into."

She gave him a long look before deciding that he probably knew what he was talking about, being essentially the writer of this story. "Fine." She said.

"Good, then wait here." Will left her and gave away his gold to the lord. Waiting in the crowd for him shove off.

Hannibal did not look impressed when he'd received all his money, "Very well, I will return tomorrow–" Suddenly, his horse began bucking wildly. The image was rather odd. There seemed to be some sort of shimmering visual effect around the horse. As Hannibal was thrown from the animal, he halted midair, a dull red aura pulsating from his skin as he floated to the ground, still unimpressed.

"You cannot hope to do away with me so easily, coward," the doctor cast a deadly look over the crowd, "I will return and you will regret this choice you've made to remain hidden." And with that, Hannibal hopped up onto his beast and rode off.

"You're the sorcerer," Abigail said as Will returned.

"You can't know that." Will frowned, "You don't have any evidence, it could be anyone."

Abigail raised an eyebrow, "You're the only other actual person here other than me and Hannibal."

"Fine," Will sighed, "but you're no fun."

"So, Hannibal is a sorcerer too?"

"Lord Lecter," Will emphasized,
"Is not just any sorcerer, he's a dragon lord. He wants to harvest my powers to add to his own so that he might become more like the dragon. You must have noticed his scaly skin."

"That seems weirdly racist." Abigail made a face.

"Hey, this part was his idea, don't blame me."

"Alright, whatever. Go on then, how do we stop him?"

"Well, I am pretty spectacular at magic, so I could distract him while you take him out."

"That doesn't seem like a very valiant thing to do. Although, if there happened to be a bow somewhere in this village, I wouldn't mind shooting at him."

"Wow, okay, I'm sure he'd love to hear that," Will snorted, "Computer, bow."

"Please specify."

"Ugh, earth medieval cross bow." The weapon materialized on the ground in front of him.

"Nice." Abigail whistled as Will picked up the weapon and handed it over to her.

"Don't shoot until you see the whites of his eyes." Will laughed.

"Got it."

"Computer fast forward to the next meeting with the dragon lord."

And they were then standing in town as Hannibal rode in demanding more money or the sorcerer. As he made his demands he was rather alarmed when inanimate objects began launching themselves at his head. They were all coming from the front, so Abigail snuck behind and aimed the crossbow. As Hannibal was hit in the head by a bucket, she let the arrow fly. It did not meet its mark of Hannibal's head but lodged itself deeply into his left side.

He looked down at the wound unhappily. The program would not hurt him with the safety on but he had to pretend he was at least a little damaged. He tugged the arrow free and turned back toward its owner as Abigail tried to restring it. Hannibal threw the arrow and it went straight for her. At the last moment Will was there, trying to stop it but the arrow traveled too fast and he jumped in front of it instead, the arrow piercing his shoulder.

Hannibal looked at him curiously. "Oh, what have we here? A knight of the king and a peasant."

Will pulled the arrow free and threw it to the ground, Hannibal looked mildly impressed. There was something off about the way Will looked in that moment. He seemed to crackle with an energy that could not be placed.

"Ah," Hannibal smiled, "You are the sorcerer I seek."

Will said nothing and arrows began to fly from the sheath of Abigail's arrows. Hannibal knocked them aside and ran his horse toward Will. Instead of using magic, he clubbed the empath over the head with the butt of his sword and caught him as he fell. The crackling energy was gone.

"Well, I'll just be taking this then," Hannibal said happily as he hoisted Will up onto his steed, "Lady knight, you can report to the king that the village has been left alone, I have what I need." And with that he hopped back up onto his horse and rode off.

Abigail huffed unhappily. She had let Will be captured, he was now her damsel in distress and it was her duty to save him.

She began to ask around the village for any sort of information. She knew that one of them must be her quest giver.

"Is there anyway to defeat a dragon lord?" She finally asked the right villager.

"You must use a sword forged with dragons fire," the villager said.

"And where would I find one of those?"

"You must seek out–"

"Computer, give me a sword forged in dragons fire." A sword appeared in her hand. She could practically feel Will's disapproval for cheating the program, but she didn't feel like seeking out any obscure mad priests or whatever she would have had to do. "Where does the dragon lord live?"

"He lives out–"

"Computer, take me to the dragon lord's home." And suddenly she was standing in a cave with Hannibal and Will. Will was lounging back on a chair that seemed oddly out of place in a medieval cave and Hannibal sat in a similar chair with a PADD in his hand.

"Abigail! You weren't supposed to be done so quickly." Will said, sitting up. "You cheated, didn't you!"

"You traitor!" Abigail said, dodging the accusation, "You were with him the whole time, which logically doesn't make sense for the plot of this story, but I shall defeat both of you anyway."

"And how do you suppose you will do that?" Hannibal asked, standing up and placing the PADD into his coat.

"I challenge you to a sword fight." Abigail announced, "Just swords, no magic, like two honorable people."

"Very well," Hannibal smiled, "but I shall not hesitate to destroy you."

"What about me?" Will asked.

Abigail gave him a long look, "You've been bewitched. Once I break his hold on you, you will become good again."

"Fight for my honor," Will nodded his approval.

The bajoran and cardassian stood facing each other, swords at the ready. They charged forward with a clash of metal. The fight lasted longer than Abigail would have thought.

Abigail thought she did quite well in the fight. Hannibal obviously took it easy on her and let her win, given that he used to be in the Cardassian military and was trained for any sort of combat, but she felt she held up well. When the dragon lord was finally defeated with a sword to the throat he fell to his knees.

"You were a worthy foe," he said as he fake died.

Will cheered, "You've saved me, brave knight!" He took her hand and kissed it. "The hero always gets a kiss from the damsel in distress," he grinned. Abigail felt a sudden wave of affection for Will and Hannibal for doing this for her. They were busy people and they'd taken the time to show her a good time. She gave Will a big hug, which seemed to surprise him.

"Come one, dragon lord," she said without letting Will go.

Hannibal rose from the dead and joined in on their hug. And for a moment Abigail could forget everything that had happened and pretend that these two were her parents and they both loved her very much. No more murders, no more cannibalism, just a happy family.

She didn't realize she was crying until she heard Will hushing her as Hannibal petted her hair. She took a moment to gather herself before taking a step back. She cleared her throat, "Thank you, both of you. I really appreciate it."

They both gave her fond looks in return.

"It wasn't a very sophisticated plot though," she laughed, "I mean it only took like an hour and a half to run through the whole thing."

"Oh, come on." Will rolled his eyes, "I think it's pretty good for the time frame we were given. We took about twenty minutes of valuable therapy time to outline the plot while both of us were exhausted and then I had to stay up all night tweaking the coding on an existing program to make this work."

"We can explore more of the world if you like," Hannibal suggested. There was a glimmer of excitement in his eyes.

"Where would we go?" Abigail asked.

"Wherever you like. We have a rather interesting means of transport." Hannibal motioned for them to follow him. Chained deeper in the cave was a huge black winged lizard.

"What is that?" Abigail asked, her eyes wide.

"A dragon," Hannibal said beaming.

"And we're going to ride it?"

"Of course. It even has a three seated saddle." Sure enough, there were three separate seats on the saddle attached to the dragon's back.

Hannibal boarded the beast fearlessly, helping Abigail into the front seat and Will into the one behind her. He took the back seat.

The rather well behaved dragon walked to the mouth of the cave and leapt into the air and then they were flying. Wind whipping through their hair. Will have a whoop of joy and Abigail found herself half terrified and half exhilarated. She laughed as they flew among the clouds. Everything felt so far away from up there. They spent the next two hours just exploring the strange world. The program was actually quite large. There was a whole mountain range programmed in as well as a decent sized canyon. It all looked gorgeous from so high up. Abigail was disappointed when their time was up, but was also feeling rather hungry and cold.

They left the holodeck and walked to Hannibal's quarters. Hannibal heated some Earthen lentil soup he'd made in preparation and they ate it sitting in the little living area. They probably looked very strange in their silly costumes, but none of them really minded. The meal was soon enough finished and the bowls were set aside as they watched programs from the ship's computer.

Abigail eventually fell asleep, leaving Hannibal and Will alone in consciousness. They were sitting side by side on the couch, what hung whatever nonsense Abigail had on.

Will have a happy sigh, a smile touching his lips and a warmth in his chest. This was good, whatever this was. He saw Hannibal glance over at him out of the corner of his eye and looked over, catching his gaze. The doctor was also smiling, looking very posh still in his lordly clothing, and his hair still looking wind ruffled from their dragon ride.

Will tilted his head back to rest against the couch and crossed his arms over his chest. "What?" he asked, his smiled stretching wider.

"I was just think that despite how crazy everything has been lately, I had a very good day today, Will," Hannibal's eyes sparkled with fondness.

"I did too. Usually I can't stand to be around people but yeah today was good."

"Why would you say that is?"

"Are we going to turn this into a therapy session, doctor?"

"I think not, I was just curious. You are under no obligation to respond."

"I'm not really sure," Will said. He was maintaining eye contact, he felt frozen by Hannibal's gaze. "It just felt good... We felt like a family." Will felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. The sudden tension caused his breath to catch as he watched Hannibal smile.

"It did have a rather domestic feeling, didn't it? I think we should do it again sometime soon."

"Do you?" Will felt a little bit outside his own body. "What sort of wild adventure shall we go on next?"

"I believe I remember a thing or two about a character named James Bond. He was some sort of human spy?"

The tension was broken as Will cloaked back a laugh. "You want to go play spies? Isn't that literally part of your actual job?"

"Yes, but from what I remember, his job was far more glamorous than mine."

"True, I believe James Bond went home to a bachelor pad full of beautiful women, not an unstable empath and a teenage girl with daddy issues."

"Oh, I wouldn't change this part of my life for the world. I would take you and Abigail over a room full of beautiful women any day. I would just prefer that the rest of my day was more action packed and less using dermal regenerators to fix cuts."

"Well, if you're going to be James Bond, then I want to be the villain. You got to be the bad guy last time."

"Very well, but you will never get away with it—whatever you are planning."

"Oh, I guess we'll just have to see about that, won't we?"

"Indeed, but this sounds more like an adventure for the two of us rather than all three."

"True, I guess we'll just have to save it for when Abigail is off doing something and we have free time. We'll have to think of a different adventure we can let her control."

"Like I said, Will, you would be a very good father," Hannibal said.

"You would too," Will smiled as he turned his head back toward the screen before them, his eye lids feeling heavy.

XxxX

Abigail woke up in apparently the middle of the night. She was balled up in her chair with a blanket that had been moved over her. She looked to the couch and saw that Will and Hannibal were slouched against each other. Hannibal looked the most comfortable. His back was against the corner of the couch and his legs over the edge. Will looked slightly awkward, he was leaning against Hannibal's shoulder but he looked like he was about to slide off the couch. She wondered if he was uncomfortable like that.

Still, if one just looked at them from the shoulders up, the image was rather endearing. She brought out a PADD, wondering if she could use this as a sort of blackmail. Before she could take the picture Hannibal's eyes opened and he gave her a look.

"Abigail," he said softly, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Um, were you already awake?"

"No, I sensed your malicious intent. If I had been awake I would have dealt with this," he gestured to Will's awkward position.

"Um, well you can deal with it now."

"I can, but at the same time I hesitate. Will has sleep problems, you see."

"That seems rather convenient."

"Hush, Abigail, sleep is important."

"Well, he's going to be rather painful when he wakes up, I'd say."

"True, we had best move him. Grab his legs and see if you can rotate them up into the couch."

"You're not going to wake him up?"

"Not if I can avoid it."

She lifted his feet slowly and carefully, bringing them to rest on the couch as Hannibal brought his head to rest in his lap, a pillow under his upper body. Will hardly stirred.

Abigail gave him a look, "I'd say you're taking advantage."

"I would never."

"Then you won't mind if I take pictures."

"Abigail–"

She snapped the picture, it wasn't like he was about to get up and take it from her what with Will in his lap.

Satisfied, she sat back in her chair and went to sleep.

XxxX

Will was shocked awake by a hypo pinching at his skin. He was disoriented, staring up at the face of his sort of psychiatrist as the bloody murder slowly faded from his mind. They must have been Abigail's dreams.

"Good morning, Will," Hannibal smiled.

Will sat up slowly, "Hi," he managed, glancing over at Abigail.

"How did you sleep?"

"Abigail's having nightmares."

"Is that what you were seeing?"

"Yes."

"Shall I ask what the two of you were dreaming of?"

"No, it'd be best to wake her up though." Will said, sitting up and walking over to the sleeping girl, kneeling down to shake her lightly.

Her eyes flashed open and she inhaled a sharp breath. Recognizing Will she relaxed a bit. She was grateful to be out of her own mind.

"Morning," Will said awkwardly.

"Morning," Abigail smiled. She looked over to Hannibal and Will felt a certain smugness creep over her. He opened his mouth to ask what he was missing out on when the door chimed. Hannibal's gaze lingered on his two guests a moment before he went to answer it.

"Yes?" Hannibal asked as the door revealed Jack Crawford.

"Uh, I'm sorry to wake you, doctor," said the voice of the captain. "May I come in?"

Hannibal glanced back to his guests for a moment. "Yes, although, I warn you, we had a bit of a slumber party last night."

Jack looked surprised to see Will and Abigail still dressed up in their dress up clothes.

"Captain," Will greeted awkwardly.

"What did you want, sir?" Hannibal pressed.

Jack blinked. "Well, we just received a transmission from Cardassia Prime. They are requesting a conference later this afternoon. They are bringing only one ship."

The cardassian frowned, "Any indication as to why?"

"No, only that they want you to be there."

"Who sent the transmission?"

"A Legate Chilton."

Hannibal's frown deepened.

"Something wrong?"

"Frederick Chilton is not an individual to whom I hold high regard. I worry what news he might bring."

"Why is that?"

"He is an arrogant man, he is discourteous to his colleagues, and he seeks to further himself at the cost of others."

"That doesn't sound too far off from a typical cardassian," Jack scoffed.

"Most cardassian are more subtle," Hannibal assured, "but he has stumbled into such a high position that he can afford to step on toes."

"I am not looking forward to this." Jack mumbled. "Will, I want you there too."

"Yes, sir."

"I will see you both at thirteen-hundred hours." And he walked out.

"Well, that was a little awkward," Will said.

"Indeed," Hannibal mused absently.

"Do you have any idea what he could want with you?" Abigail asked.

"I am really not sure, but if they are coming personally, I can't expect that it is anything good."

Will sighed, "If only I could read cardassians better."

"But that would take the air of mystery from our friendship, Will," Hannibal teased.

"Yeah, who knows what sort of secrets Hannibal might be hiding," Abigail smirked, that same smugness creeping through again.

"Indeed," Hannibal grinned, "But let's not waste time on what ifs. For now, I think I'll try my hand at the Earth waffle."

XxxX

A/N: Agh, now I want medieval hannigram. I wish holodecks were real.

When I was writing this when I described the lentil soup as "human lentil soup" and instead of saying it was from earth. With any other characters I wouldn't have had to change it.

Thanks.