The Times Have Changed-Chapter 1-Lunch and the New Recruits
Same old disclaimer we've all seen. I only own the characters I come up with in my ADD brain; I don't own the characters from the series. For those that are wondering, yes, this is the sequel to The New Recruit. Some obviously implied Sheyla.
"Ouch! Dammit!" and a long line of other expletives in various languages, including Ancient, sounded from one US Air Force Captain Charlene "Charlie" Ballard as she attempted to fix the Ancient device Major Lorne's team had procured on M4S-917 the day before. It had been working fine when they brought it back, but then it just stopped working and her boss, Dr. Rodney McKay, had insisted that she be the one to find out what was wrong since she had the stronger ATA gene.
"What happened?" a low voice asked her as she sucked on her injured finger that had been shocked by the "broken" device.
Charlie turned her head to see that "very good friend" Ronon Dex had dropped by in the middle of her cursing out the damned device that had decided that it didn't like her messing around with its internal systems. "The stupid thing won't work anymore and McKay has decided that since I have a strong ATA gene, that I am the one who will find out what's wrong and fix it. What brings you here?"
"You've been down here for a while and I thought you might be hungry," he answered as he produced a Styrofoam box from which the tantalizing smell of actual ground beef was emanating from.
"Is that-?"
"Dr. Z said that you might like a cheeseburger," he told her as he handed over the warm white box and a thermos cup that smelled suspiciously of raspberry tea.
"I take it that the Daedalus has returned?" she asked before biting into the burger.
"Yeah; and Sheppard said to tell you that the two of us have the new round of recruits to train."
"Oh joy," came the muffled answer as the Airman carefully ate the much-needed food.
The Czech scientist, who Charlie also reported to when it came to scientific matters, had also managed to include salted fries for his now often-overworked assistant. She glared at the Satedan as he took a few and stuffed them into his mouth, "Those are mine!"
"You're eating your cheeseburger." Once she had swallowed a mouthful of tea, she stuck her tongue out at him, which elicited a laugh from the large man.
After knowing the blonde woman for almost five years, Ronon had become a much livelier individual. Unless, of course, you mentioned the first time they had sparred with each other or he felt the need to go back to his original persona of the glaring and brooding man that Atlantis had first met.
Charlie had also changed in that time. When she had first come to Atlantis, she had been a subordinate. Okay, she was still a subordinate, but she was also now one of the city's senior officers and had recently received a commission from the SGC for all of her hard work and her saving the city's flagship team on a still-classified mission (Sheppard refused to allow anyone to read the report and kept have of it locked in his office and the other half locked in his and Teyla's room). Said commission had confused quite a few of the personal that had not been on the mission; in fact, her promotion to the rank of captain had surprised her, too. She later found out that Col. Sheppard had written a letter to Gen. O'Neill (who had also been surprised at the request), asking to have her promoted to a rank that, if looked at from a bottom-to-top scenario, was the third from lowest rank for an officer, similar to her rank as an Airman First Class being the third from lowest rank for someone who had enlisted. She was also one of the few people in the city that could keep Kavanaugh, who had been forced to return due to his knowledge of some of the city's lower levels that had been closed off after the storm their first year in the city, in line without even raising her voice (though it had taken some work).
Their relationship had also progressed, but only the senior staff knew how far.
"So, how many noobs have we got this time around?" she asked as she managed to save the rest of the fries from her burly friend.
"Thirty; ten soldiers, ten scientists, and ten medical personal," he answered.
"How many do you think are going to try to hit on the Sheppards?" she asked. It had become a joke among all of the military personal, be they security, science, or medicine, to bet on how many men would hit on Teyla Emmagen-Sheppard, leader of the Athosians and 2IC on the city's flagship team, and how many women would flirt with her husband and teammate, Colonel John Sheppard.
"Half."
"Half? You think that half of the new recruits will flirt with and hit on the Sheppards?"
"Yep."
"You're on, Dex. I'll go with it." The two shook hands before cleaning up her lab and heading out to the main part of the city and the Gate room to introduce themselves to their new trainees.
"So, how many do you think-" Lt. Colonel Marcus Lorne asked Ronon and Charlie as they joined the other Atlantis senior personal in meeting and greeting the city's newest inhabitants.
"Half," they both answered.
"Half? Really?"
"Have you checked the roster? Seven of them are married and will only be here for the next six months until those they're standing in for get back," Charlie told her XO.
"Well, I guess that makes sense. I take it you agree with her, Dex?" The only answer he received from the hulking Satedan was a nod. "Okay, then."
A few minutes later, all thirty of the new recruits were led in by one of the older sergeants (someone had once made a joke about them looking a little like they had just come from the first Harry Potter movie) into the Gate room. Since it had been close to three in the morning in Atlantis when they had arrived, Dr. Weir had insisted that the "Welcome Ceremony" be held at 1300 the next day.
"Hello everyone; I'm Dr. Elizabeth Weir and I would just like to say welcome to Atlantis. This is our military commander, Colonel John Sheppard and his team," she motioned to the man standing next to her, Teyla, McKay, and Ronon before continuing "Our CMO Dr. Beckett, Doctors Zelenka and Kusanagi, and our military second and third, Lt. Col. Lorne and Captain Ballard." She indicated each person standing with her.
The staff of Atlantis that had been there for a while was already used to this by now; the welcoming ceremony and introduction of senior staff was something the Dr. Weir had insisted they do in order to make the new personal feel more welcome and comfortable in their new environment. It also ensured that they knew who the superiors were in case of an emergency and they needed to evacuate.
Dr. Weir continued, "You'll all now report to the main gym for training. Dismissed." Everyone filed out; they would be personally introduced to most of the senior staff as the week progressed, starting with Ronon and Charlie in the main gym.
It was later revealed by the same sergeant that Ronon and Charlie had been right about half of the new people gazing with a look of lust upon each face as they stared up at the Colonel and his wife.
"I can't wait to see what happens," Lorne murmured to Sheppard as they watched the newbies and their "trainers" disappear. It was common knowledge among the military members of Atlantis and those that had trained with the Satedan and the captain that they were two of the hardest (besides the Sheppards) and strongest taskmasters in the city and would not allow anyone to get out of training. It had become another favorite betting pool among the people of the City of the Ancestors to see how long it would take before even the toughest newbie cracked.
"I'm with you on that. Tell me how it turns out."
"You're not coming?"
"Halling has requested us and Elizabeth on the mainland," Teyla supplied.
"I see; well, have fun." With that said, they turned their separate ways, John and Teyla to the 'jumper bay to meet up with Elizabeth and Lorne to the nearest transporter, and the Gate room and control centre were peaceful once more.
Okay, so that was a bit long-winded. What did you think? Please click the pretty blue button and review!
