The New Recruit-Chapter 1-Ronon Meets His Match

Ronon Dex, specialist in the late Satedan military, was not in a good mood. He had spent the last hour being beaten in single hand-to-hand combat by a young female Airman half a foot shorter than him and less than half his weight and had since had to endure the taunts from the other expedition members in the gym who had witnessed his defeat. Despite having glared and growled at the various people gathered, no one had felt threatened.

As he stormed into the commissary, grabbed a tray, and started loading it up, he caught sight of the very object of his black mood; Airman First Class Charlene Ballard had just walked into the commissary with her boss, or one of her bosses, Dr. Radek Zelenka. Choosing to ignore the beautiful blonde who, much to the chagrin of many of Atlantis's male population, refused to be ordered around even though she was enlisted and many of them were officers, Ronon chose a seat on the far side of the room where his back would be to the wall and he could observe the goings on of his colleagues.

"What's got you in such a bad mood?" Ronon almost jumped from his seat at the question of Lt. Col. John Sheppard as the shorter man sat down across from him.

"Nothing," came his terse reply.

"So, your bad mood has nothing to do with the fact that McKay and Zelenka's new assistant almost beat the crap out of you during your training session with the new recruits?"

"Or it could be that he was beaten by a woman, sir," Maj. Lorne put in as he joined the two men.

"That's true. I don't think very many people have ever been able to beat Ronon."

"You know, I heard that her dad was a SEAL, one of her brothers is in Special Forces, and another is a Marine. It could be that she learned to fight from one of them."

"Or it could be that she has three black belts in three separate martial arts disciplines," a soft female voice cut in, causing both senior officers to jump in their seats.

"You should better than to sneak up on people, Airman," Sheppard scolded.

"Yes, sir, I was simply going to point out that you shouldn't talk about people behind their backs when they are standing behind yours." She turned to Ronon. "Sir, I just wished to apologize for beating you earlier. Sometimes I forget that not very many people my size or gender can throw someone your size half-way across a room."

"Apologies are unnecessary, Airman."

"Yes, sir," she saluted all three men and returned to her seat beside Dr. Zelenka a few tables behind them.

"May I ask what that was about?" Dr. Rodney McKay questioned his teammates and Lorne as he joined the three men.

"Ronon was beaten by your assistant earlier during the training sessions for new recruits. She just came by to apologize for throwing him half-way across the gym," Lorne informed the physicist.

"So, you've been having trouble with her, too?" Rodney asked.

"What do you mean, 'trouble with her, too'?" Sheppard asked the Canadian.

"She said that my calculations for a greater input from the naquadah generators were off by three decimals. Can you believe that? Three decimals!"

"Was she right?"

"Yes, actually; although, I don't see how that's possible since her IQ has only been tested at 153."

"Yes, Rodney, that's hard to believe."

"But does that mean that we now have enough power for the city's shield if we need it?" Lorne asked him.

"Yes, it does mean that if we have another emergency that requires we activate the shield, we'll have enough power to use it."

"So, it's a good thing that she corrected you, then," Sheppard finished.

"Yes, it's a good thing."

"That's all we needed to know, McKay."

"But that's not all that there is to her. Carson and I found out that her ATA gene is almost as strong as yours, Colonel."

"And that means what, exactly?"

"That means that she might be able to activate Ancient technology as quickly as you can."

"So, the Colonel's not special anymore?"

"Well, I'm not unique anymore. I've always been special, Lorne."

"Of course, sir."

Their discussion was interrupted by Dr. Weir asking them to report to the Gate room. Ronon noticed that Zelenka and Ballard were also asked to report for the mission briefing.

Okay, so who's Airman Ballard and why was she able to beat Ronon? Why did she correct McKay? Is her ATA gene really almost as strong as Sheppard's? More to come. Please review!