The remainder of the Council convenes in Ville's office by unspoken agreement : Ville, Sheppard, McKay, Keller and Beckett. Katie Brown remained with Wolsey's team on Earth, Zelenka with Lorne's team on Icarus.
Ville begins, "First order of business - do we want to replace four members of the council?"
Oddly, everyone looks to McKay. "What?"
Beckett says, "Lt. Cadman is head of security now."
"Believe it or not, I am actually okay with that now," McKay insists. He looks to Sheppard. "What do you think?"
Sheppard demurs, "I think we need to stop putting all your ex-girlfriends on the Council."
"She was never...oh, shut up. I was talking about whether we actually need more Council members. We're flying off to fight the Wraith. Leading the fight - well, that's your job, so what do you think?"
"So what's your job?"
"Saving our asses from impossible, hopeless situations - as usual."
"Mine is patching you all back up after you survive those impossible, hopeless situations," Keller volunteers.
"I need to get back to work on the retro-virus. It's still our most promising solution to the Wraith...problem," Beckett admits.
Sheppard sums up, "The Pegasus mission is less diverse. We don't need an executive paper pusher or a lawyer anymore. Our numbers are fewer and like it or not, Atlantis is going to be on a war footing. We can continue exploring as much as we can as long as we don't compromise defense. We'll activate as many of our old contacts as still exist and make new friends. Getting Ronon and Teyla back in the fold is a high priority. If we want a bigger council, we can include them."
"Well, seven is a lucky number," Keller tries to joke.
"Aye, that'll do."
"I'll take over the day to day operations again to free you up for the military missions," McKay sighs.
"I already got that covered. Chuck and Amelia can handle most of it."
"We can still do some science," Ville says.
"Yeah, weapons research," McKay complains.
"Rodney," she assures him, "I'll continue searching the database for anything we can use here in Atlantis or pass along to Earth or Icarus."
"Additional improvements to the technology we have a handle on, like your wormhole drive would be useful. We could also use some more ZPMs or alternate power systems," Sheppard suggests, "that would allow Ville and I to both be off-world for an extended period of time, if a situation called for it."
Beckett bemoans, "I'd hate to find out what kind of situation would call for that to happen."
