Author's Note: This is my first SGA fic so I hope it's decent! This will mostly be a Ronon / Other Character story, and I'm trying to make the new character as emotionally rich and likable as possible. It's rated T for now, but may change. There is a TINY bit of coarse language in this first chapter.

I must admit that I've held off on watching Seasons 4 and 5 of SGA, but I want it to fit somewhere between the two. This takes place after Ronon and Dr. Keller's "thing" fizzled out.

I own no part of Stargate Atlantis. The only characters that are my own are Emma Rogers and Lacey Peters and a few minor characters here and there.

**Since writing the sequel to this fic (2017), I have gone back and made small edits to almost every chapter of this one. Most of the edits were small things here and there (formatting fixes, word choice changes, etc.) Any bigger changes I made only slightly affected the characterizations of a few people (mostly Emma). No plot points were changed, nor was anything changed to help this story "fit" with my sequel.**

"Scheduled incoming wormhole from Earth," a voice over the intercom boomed through the base.

"What's this?" Ronon asked, walking side by side with Sheppard.

"Didn't you read this week's report?" Sheppard asked.

Ronon shot him a look.

"Right," Sheppard muttered, "It's a new group of scientists coming to join the expedition."

"Great," Ronon groaned. They headed to the control room as Col. Carter made her way to the gate room to meet the incoming crowd. "That's all we need now are a dozen more McKays running aro—" He stopped mid-sentence. The entire team had come through and the gate had shut down. It was a smaller group, with only two women. One was in her mid forties, but the other one could not have been much older than twenty-five. She had long dark red hair and fair complexion. She was wide-eyed and looking around at her new surroundings. Ronon had stopped speaking when her eyes met his. She turned her gaze back to Col. Carter.

"I am glad to see all of you here in one piece and I look forward to working with and getting to know all of you," Carter smiled. "Now, Lt. Brown will show you all to your new quarters. We will meet in the conference room at 13:00 hours for our first briefing. Welcome to Atlantis." The lieutenant herded the new group down the hallway to the south section of the city. The woman looked quickly back up at where Ronon and Sheppard were standing one last time, then continued on.

"Ronon? Hey there, buddy," Sheppard began, hitting him on the arm.

"Who's that girl?" he asked, not paying any attention to him.

"If you had read the report, you would know," Sheppard said smugly.

Ronon tore his eyes away from her back and glared at him.

"I mean," Sheppard cleared his throat, "her name is Emma Rogers and she is a linguist, if I remember properly."

"A linguist? She studies languages?" he asked.

"That's normally how it goes, yeah," Sheppard nodded.

"I guess there are worse things to study," Ronon said as he walked away.

"You know we're supposed to be at that briefing, right?" Sheppard called to him.

"I'll try to make it," Ronon said in a monotone voice waving back to him, but not turning around.

"No you won't," Sheppard murmured more to himself than to Ronon. "Hey wait up!" he called, jogging to catch up with him.

She mindlessly followed the lieutenant down the many corridors lit softly by the midmorning sun. They stopped walking. "Dr. Rogers," the lieutenant said as he ran his hand over the door control panel, "these are your quarters."

"Oh my God," she gasped.

"Ma'am?" the lieutenant asked, "Something wrong?"

"No. No no no," she smiled, walking over to the window and opening it, "It's just…I've never lived by the ocean before."

"Let me know if there's anything you need, ma'am," he said, turning around to leave.

"Thank you," she said quietly, deeply breathing in the fresh, salty air.

She sat on her new bed, still in shock about her new home. Just a few days ago, she was camped out in a lab underneath Cheyenne Mountain, checking all of Dr. Jackson's work, and now she was sitting on her bed in the Lost City of Atlantis in a completely different galaxy. The room was spacious; she had both an area for her to sleep with her own bathroom and a study area complete with a desk and chair. I can't believe I'm here, she thought to herself. From the second she had stepped through the gate, she had felt that the city offered a calming presence, almost like nothing bad could happen to her in this sea haven. She let out a sigh and listened to the waves as they rhythmically broke against the pier.

After a few minutes, she began to unpack. First she pulled out the hand crocheted blanket her Chilean host mother had made for her, then her cowboy boots, then the pictures of her family, their ranch, her friends, her college sorority, and the family dog. She hung up the drawing her three-year-old niece, Allie, had done just before she had left for Atlantis on the wall over her desk next to her diplomas. Her stomach growled as soon as she started transferring her countless books onto the tall bookshelf. She looked at her watch and wandered out of her quarters to find the cafeteria. Every hallway looked the same and she soon felt turned around, but she experienced no sense of panic. People surrounded her everywhere she went, around every corner she turned. She soon abandoned the thought of immediately finding the cafeteria and instead chose to embrace her journey of discovery down the countless expansive corridors.

After ten minutes she stopped in her tracks. "Fuck. Circles," she cursed quietly to herself. She heard the voices of two men arguing loudly about something she didn't understand approaching her. As they rounded the corner, she observed that they both wore flags on their left sleeves, just like she did, but neither of them were American like her. One boasted the Canadian flag and the other the flag of the Czech Republic.

"Excuse me," she said politely, "P-promiňte."

They both looked up with surprise from the electronic tablet that occupied their interest.

"Hi," she began awkwardly, "I'm new here. I'm Emma Rogers," she smiled sweetly, wringing her hands, "I was hoping one of you could tell me where the mess is…the cafeteria…the commissary…" she rambled.

The Czech spoke up. "Ah yes, it's just down this hallway, then take your second right," he smiled politely.

"Thank you," she grinned, "I thought I smelled food this way. You know…follow your nose," she laughed nervously.

"I'm sorry, but you speak Czech?" the man asked timidly.

"Only a little," she nodded, "I'm…"

"She's the new linguist," the Canadian said confidently.

"Yes," she answered slowly, frowning slightly, a little unnerved that he knew that so quickly about her.

"Dr. Rodney McKay," he smiled cockily, holding his hand out to hers to shake.

"Emma," she smiled, shaking his hand, "…I already said that though didn't I? And you are…?" she asked, directing her attention to the Czech.

"Radek Zelenka," he nodded, shaking her hand.

"Je mi potěšením, že vás poznávám."

"Your Czech is beautiful," he complimented.

"Aw... well...thank you for lying," she grinned politely. "Thanks both of you for the directions. Now, if you'll excuse me, I could eat a horse. I hope to see you later," she waved as she headed down the hallway.

"I like her," Zelenka said as soon as she was several yards away from her.

"Absolutely," McKay agreed as they both watched her disappear, "What were we talking about?" he asked quickly.

"I don't remember," Zelenka said, furrowing his brow as they continued on their way in the opposite direction.

"You hungry?" McKay asked.

"I could eat," Zelenka reasoned.

"You want to go join her?"

They looked at each other. "Emma!" they both called in unison, trotting to catch up with her.

(I don't speak Czech! That's all Google Translate so I apologize if it's wrong!)

Thanks! Reviews would be much appreciated!