Sheppard looked over Mitchell's shoulder at the screen on the laptop, but it was just filled with a bunch of diagrams and assorted information that he was pretty sure Mitchell didn't understand any more than he did.
"You finished it?" he asked, curiously, instead. "I thought you needed to wait for Colonel Carter to get back?"
McKay rolled his eyes.
"She already added her input," he told them both. "All that was left to put the finishing touches on it – which I'm more than capable of handling by myself."
"Which finishing touches are we speaking about?" Melony asked, pulling the laptop over so she could get a better look. Actually, so Talon could get a better look, since he definitely knew more about what the screen was saying than she did. He was the nerd of the team, after all.
You're just jealous
Melony smiled and ignored him and waited for McKay's answer while skimming through the file in front of her. They'd been keeping up with the build of the new ship just enough to let McKay and Carter – and all the other techs who had volunteered to work on it as well – know what she and Talon wanted it to do, but had trusted Sam's good sense to keep things from getting out of hand.
And then Jack O'Neill had summoned Carter back to Earth a few months ago. Which had left Rodney alone in charge of the ship construction. Something that would have worried Melony if they'd had a lot of time to think about it. She hadn't had time, though. Not with the other demands on her time. There was never enough time to get back to the ship project – especially since the Jumpers worked well enough as transportation that she wasn't in a super hurry to get the new ship built.
"Weapons systems and the DHD," McKay answered, pulling the laptop back and pointing to a schematic on the screen. "The DHD will work a lot like the ones on the Jumpers, but Atlantica will have the added benefit of having two different dialers – one on each console, just in case the copilot is too busy with something else to dial – or you're flying alone and you don't have anyone to dial and can't reach the center console." He looked smug. "And the DHDs are retractable, like a cup holder. They hide in the consoles until we need them."
"I'm not calling her Atlantica, Rodney," Melony told him – again.
"It's a good name," McKay protested.
"We could call it the Meredith," Sheppard said with a smirk.
McKay rewarded him with a scowl.
"Funny." He looked over at Mitchell. "Look, it's the first ship built in Atlantis since the Ancients started making the Jumpers. It deserves a good name to commemorate that."
She didn't look convinced and it showed. McKay made an impatient noise.
"What does Talon think?"
"He agrees with me," she told him.
"What? You didn't even stop to ask him."
"We're not calling it Atlantica, McKay."
"Well, how about The McKay?"
Sheppard snorted, and even Melony lost her annoyance at the blatant attempt to get her to go back to his original choice and smiled – a little.
"Let's go take a look at it," she said. "It'll be interesting to see what they decided to-"
"No, no, no…" Rodney interrupted, shaking his head and closing his laptop with a slight snap. "I want to do the unveiling right. With proper pomp and ceremony."
"Are you nuts?"
"It's not the Queen Mary 2, Rodney," Sheppard added.
"Oh, come on," McKay pouted. "I put a lot of time and brain power into this thing. If you're not going to let me pick the name at least let me have my moment of unveiling…"
He has put a lot of effort into it, Talon agreed, taking McKay's side – not something he'd normally do. A little ceremony won't hurt anything
She rolled her eyes, but shrugged.
"Fine. But nothing too ostentatious and no breaking wine bottles against it."
"How did you know I-"
"I have my sources," she interrupted.
"We still don't have a name to put on the side…" McKay pointed out.
"We haven't had much chance to think about it," Melony told him.
"You've had months."
"We've been busy."
He looked unconvinced, but then Sheppard did, too, she noticed.
"I need some coffee…"
As she turned to the counter that held the huge coffee pots that were perpetually filled with reasonably fresh coffee, she could hear McKay and Sheppard talking in the background, but it was Talon that had most of her attention.
We could call it Fugliest
Melony smiled.
Carter would be disappointed.
The ship was actually a pretty neat looking craft, almost all the aesthetics designed by Colonel Carter and a small team she'd brought from Earth when she'd first been asked to help on the ship. It definitely deserved a better name than its predecessors.
O'Neill would be amused
True.
She poured a cup of coffee for herself and another for Sheppard, and walked back over to the table. Handing the other cup to John, she turned her attention back to McKay.
"When is the unveiling, then?"
Might as well get it over with. Besides, now that it was done, she was itching to get into it and try it out.
"Are there any teams offworld?" Rodney asked.
Melony looked over at Sheppard, who would know that answer better than she did. She wasn't the one who did the assigning, after all. He nodded without needing to check.
"Three teams on recons, one on a trading mission with the Farmers."
No need to ask which farmers. The only ones that he wouldn't clarify on were those that lived on the world that the Light Ones lived on. They were thriving with their relationship with the Light Ones, and it was showing in the quality of the foodstuff they were sending back to Atlantis once harvests had started coming in. Even though Earth could supply Atlantis easily, now, they usually ate what their trading partners sent before resorting to asking for resupply from the SGC.
"Well, we don't need to wait for them," McKay said. "We could probably have the ceremony this afternoon."
"What ceremony?" came a voice behind them.
They all turned, and saw that Ronon Dex had entered the commissary while they'd been talking. Not surprisingly, none of them had noticed.
"My ship's done," Melony said, giving him a nod in greeting. "Rodney wants to make it a party."
To Melony's surprised Ronon nodded his agreement as he sat down next to McKay.
"On Sateda when a ship was finished it was a pretty big deal. Especially a warship. There was always a party."
McKay looked pleased and not a little smug.
"See?"
Mitchell rolled her eyes, but shrugged.
"Fine. We can have a ceremony."
Rodney beamed.
"Great!"
"But nothing too ostentatious."
"Of course not."
