Human Advantage- the sequel to echoes of the past, when Lee is forced to reveal his vipers FTL capability he finds him the centre of unwanted attention from both friend and foe.

Recap- Echoes of the past- Adama discovers Lee had surgery just prior to coming to the Galactica for her decommisioning ceremony. Because he is still feeling discomfort Cottle investigates and finds a data disk implanted in Lee's back. A cylon attack happens before anything else can be discovered and Adama finds himself having to leave Lee behind to save the ship. When Starbuck finds herself battling a cylon raider and facing an inbound missile she is saved by the sudden reappearance of Lee in his viper. Investigations reveal Lee's viper has been fitted with an FTL drive. These were always considered dangerous in vipers with the attempts to install them abandoned many years ago. From accessing the disk from Lee's back it was found he took part in a classified project that attempted to bring back viper FTL technology by using chips embedded into the pilots brains to control the jump . Unfortunately the chips caused brain damage and the project was abandoned. Adama worries about Lee's future until he finds out that Lee is one of a small percentage of people able to operate the drive without a chip. The disk also contains no data on copying the FTL drive and it is found that a security system in the viper kills anyone who tries to remove it. Knowing that it is too risky to copy the technology and not wanting medical experimentation done on his son William Adama claims the vipers jump was just an fluke and that it will never happen again...

Prologue- Cylon Lament

"It always seems to happen the same old way", moaned a 6 as she regarded her fellow cyclons aboard one of their many base stars. "Yeah we chase them, fight a little, maybe destroy a few but then they jump away and live on", an 8 agreed sourly. "Who would have thought that the last remanants of humanity would be so bold , all that resistance. Why didn't hey just give up and die ",spouted no 5 who also had a human designation of Aaron Doral, "do you really think it would have been that easy', he added sarcastically with a distinctly human roll of his eyes.

"The fact remains humanity lives on and if we truly want to be free to lives our lives then we must put an end to them before they put an end to us. This is the way it always has been and the way it must be", the model known as Leoban insisted.

"We have our sleeper agent within the fleet ready to take action, an 8 pointed out. She was proud of the fact the sleeper was one of her model, "Yes but in the meantime let's combat their ability to just leap away. We can deny them water and they'll find it, deny them food and they'd probably eat each other, but if we take away their abilty to look for a new home or resources then we strand them dead in space, a whole fleet ripe for the plucking", a 6 gleefully announced. The others all smiled at this keen to be free of the humans.

"So we order the centurions to go for their fuel. Without that tylium ship they'll be down to a few jumps minimum.", an 8 suggested

"It's a good plan but I don't think they'll let us even get close to that ship", 5 prodded. He was always a little sarcastic 8 reflected then smacked herself wasn't that a human trait.

"We could make sure they are looking at something else", 6 offered.

The others nodded in agreement. "Humanity is just like rats and we are the eradicators", 8 threw in with an almost girlish delight.

Chapter 1- Light of Apollo

Shaking the water off his back, Lee shivered as his bare feet touched the cold metal floor. He shifted from one foot to another trying to find a warm spot while reaching for a towel to drape around his waist. He'd only just succeeded in getting his modesty secure when Starbuck appeared, 'nice dance Lee", her voice tinkled with mischief and he didn't even wan't to think about what the look in her eyes meant as she regarded his half naked form boldly. Trying hard not to blush because he knew it'd just make her smile wider Lee wondered why Starbuck was always around when he was vulnerable. Holding onto the towel firmly he faced her, "some frakker used all the hot stuff", he growled.

"Ohh poor old Lee can't handle a bit of cold water, should toughen up", teased Kara her grin wide. "Thanks so much Kara", he bandied back with distinct bitterness in his voice. "Is it be cruel to the CAG day or something".

Kara just grinned wider enjoying teasing him. Apollo had almost been her big brother in law and she felt it was her duty to pester him as much as possible. Sometimes though maybe the teasing went a little beyond what was appropriate for an almost brother and into territory she should not even think about.

She guessed his funk this morning was from the early meeting with Tigh. The colonel was never fun to deal with and being the Commanders son just made it harder for Lee. Her eyes followed him as he picked up another towel and began to dry his hair. With that finished he turned to her, "I have to get changed now Kara" he stated. Grinning widely Kara shot a glance at the towel around his waist, "So go ahead flyboy, she encouraged. Lee just glared not in the mood for this sort of banter, "go away Kara", he ordered in a no nonsense voice. Kara was about to tease him some more when the klaxon went off. "Looks like you need to speed dress anyway flyboy", Kara told him as she ran toward the flight deck. Lee got dressed in record time and heard the report that a large squadron consisting of several hundred cylons had just jumped into range. The orders were to hold them off until the fleet and the Galactica could program a jump away.

Sliding himself into his viper seat Lee launched into a pre fight speech ,"right people you know the drill, blast us some toasters". That was simple and direct enough, no need to get over complicated. He knew all his pilots knew how to shoot but some of them still might end up dead. With that morose thought circling in his head he launched off the deck and into space.

He soon found himself in the midst of what would have been called a dog fight in the old days. But this was not the old days when there were squadrons of vipers to fly support. At this present time the cylons outnumbered his squad 3 to 1. But he didn't let that affect his feelings at all, reaching for his gun trigger he just started blasting away

On the other side of the fleet the tylium ship was busy prepping itself for the jump away. It'd be a few more minutes their captain reflected. But as several balls of light flashed around the ship a coldness hit his heart and he realized they did not have several minutes.

Tigh was watching the board while Adama was prepping the FTL for the jump. Thus he saw a problem instantly occur, "3 raiders have just jumped into range near the tylium ship", he yelled.

William Adama immediately lifted his head and looked over at him grimly, "Ah so now they get bold, keeping our forces busy while they take out our fuel."

"Well its going to work" , Tigh grumped, "those vipers will never get there on time and we can't risk a shot from here because half the fleet is in our way. "Face it this is another time they have outmaneuvered us", his eyes and face carried the anger in their tenseness and his voice dripped despondence.

Looking around at the deck crew Tigh could see his attitude reflected, another battle another retreat, more endless fleeing , would it all end in their deaths one day soon.

Adama felt the same and expressed it by clencing his fist tightly and hitting the console hard. It hurt and didn't help the situation at all, in seconds their fuel supply was going to get taken out and there was nothing he could do about it.

Lee saw the raiders on his console and felt like lead had just found its way into his stomach. Of course it was Kara who expressed her thoughts verbally ,"those frakkers, if I could get over there I'd show them",she blasted one of the raiders in front of her in emphasis.

"There's nothing we can do Kara", he replied sadly ," I mean we can hardly jump…", he stopped as it suddenly occurred to him that there was something he could do about the situation . All he had to do was think about the Tylium ship and the FTL installed in his viper would take him there in a second. Without thinking further about the consequences of what he was about to do, Lee filled his mind with the picture of the Tylium ship and thought 'jump". His viper obeyed.

The Tyliums ship captain felt like he was holding his breath as the red flashing lights on his console indicated the raiders were making a weapons lock on the ship, any second now and he'd be joining his dead family in oblivion.

"It's going to be over in a minute", Saul Tigh remarked . He watched the screen waiting for the moment the tylium ship disappeared. That's when he saw it, a viper ID just appeared in the middle of the three raiders. "what the frak, he announced, "how'd that happen".

Bill saw the motion as well and knew the answer to the question. Saul was staring at the vipers identification code, "that's Apollo's ship", he told Bill. 'Yes", was all Bill said

Saul kept his eyes fixed on the screen watching as one then two of the raiders winked off the screen as Apollo elimated them. That left only one.

Lee blasted away but the raider was diving under his fire as it shot away. At least Lee reflected it was no longer firing on the Tylium ship . He was determined not to let it escape, and fired his guns some more as he threw his viper downward rapidly. The cylon bird listed slightly as one of his shots hit its side wing . But it didn't slow as it fired more shots at him then flash it was gone as it engaged its FTL.

Lee cursed then rapidly got himself back into battle mode ,his squad still needed help. Flash ,his viper jumped into the midst of the raider squadron and quickly disposed of 5 fighters . Flash, flash, now the other raiders were jumping away leaving him and his squadron alone in space.

"Return to Galactica", came the order. Lee immediately turned his viper .

William Adama could feel his xo's gaze burning into his back. "Well spit it out", he finally insisted after a few minutes of Saul Tigh's death glare had gone on.

"You once told me that ship would not be making anymore jumps", Saul stated slowly and to his mind with a definite indication of a 'warning tone'.

Ignoring the tone Bill pulled him off to one side. "I lied", he told his XO calmly. Saul could feel himself turning red as anger crept upon him, "you lied to appease that brat you call your son", he hissed. Bill felt himself flush at Saul's destription of Lee but held his temper, barely, He knew that Tigh and Lee sometimes disagreed and that it was Lee who maintained control of his anger and not Tigh, "I lied Colonel because there is no way to get more ships like Lee's or pilots to man them. It's would cost lives and we cannot afford any more lives", he insisted facing down his XO with a tone that declared "back off".

Saul his crossed his arms and scowled undeterred and not caring he was actually challenging his commander ,"that ship is still a military asset, Bill, look at what it just did".

"Look at what Lee just did", Adama corrected, "that brat just saved our asses", he smiled right into Saul's face knowing it was irritating him."Alright, he did", Saul grudgingly admitted "I guess you are going to explain how he did that,", he added.

Lee brought his viper into a smooth landing and then waited patiently while the deck crew took care of her. Opening his canopy he got this strange sense as he stood upright, they were all looking at him, the deck crew and other viper pilots. Trying hard to ignore the speculative gaze he stepped down onto the deck. For a brief second the deck felt like a quivering jelly underfoot and he sagged slightly . A pair of very familiar arms locked around him ", you okay Lee", Kara enquired. 'Trying hard to ignore the shifting of the deck, he responded, "yeah just get me out of here Kara". "Sure ", with her arms still around him she escorted him away ignoring the gaze of the others who watched him go. But she still heard the whispers ,"exactly how did Apollo manage that".

Several thousand miles away in the base star no. 6 and no. 8 were joining together in the human vice of having a drink to celebrate their victory. This was immediately dimmed when a serious Simon O'Neill told them to come and look at some footage a fighter had brought back from the battle.

They hurried to the lounge where it resembled a human movie night giving no. 6 the absurd urge to ask for popcorn. Those human ideals were sometimes hard to get out of ones programming. She settled into a chair and watched as the three fighters prepared to take out the tylium ship. Then came the flash as a viper jumped in and took out two of the fighters. "The last one was damaged but mangaged to take this before jumping out", Simon reported.

"The fleet has never had FTL technology in their vipers", an 8 reflected.

"No indeed, it makes one wonder why they haven't used it before , Leoban inquired. "They wanted it to be secret but were forced to use it to prevent the loss of fuel. They must be planning some attack in the future with other ships like that", 8 remarked with an almost shake in her voice.

She looked over at the 6 who had stood quietly throughout the conversation , you have nothing to say", she enquired.

That particular No 6 turned her head to regard Aaron Doral, "this is your fault", she stated firmly with a human like finger point in his direction.

Aaron hung his head, "neither that fighter or that pilot was ever meant to survive", he stated firmly.

Now the 8's and 2's and 4's were looking over at Aaron. "If I am right then there is only one drive like in existence", he told them.

Number 8 actaully let out a sigh of relief, "then that's alright what can one pilot and one ship do against us".

William Adama was yelling the same thing at Saul Tigh, "there is only a .5 percent change that any of our entire rest of the human population possess the natural abilty to operate this drive Saul. "

"So we can still go out there and find others. I can't believe you'd hold back any chance of a military advantage against these frakkers", Saul could not help the tone of bitterness in his voice.

"Okay so if we find a handful of warriors who can do what Lee does what are we going to do with them. There were no plans of how this drive is constructed on that disk Saul. We can't remove the drive from the viper without triggering the self defense system that as you remember just fries people who mess with it."

"So you tell me how you are going to use this technology",Adama concluded.

Back on the base star the Cylons were also having a similar conversation. "We have no worries then", 8 smiled at her colleagues. Aaron was strangely silent as she said that, "do we", 8 added after a glance at the look on his face.

"When we wanted to come back and exact revenge on the humans there were many plans that were put forward ",Aaron told them. "We naturally had some cylons already integrated into the human populations. One of my models was in the military and was working on a project to install FTL technology in vipers.

He smiled, "Military powers were always fearing a return of our people and looking at ways to consolidate power. This project offered a chance to turn their fears against them. They wanted to cut down on the time it takes a ship to jump . It is at this time the ship is most vulernable to attack. An almost instanantious jump without all that prep would be a huge advantage. Naturally they had at that time no such technology. So part of the plan was to give them some help by supplying them with these microchips that pilots and ship commanders could have implanted into their brain to send direct commands to the jump drives. The jump drives installed on both vipers and battlestars would be altered to accept these brain waves as commands hence eliminating the calculations a computer has to make. The stupid idiots of course thought this was a wonderful idea", Aaron told them. "Our plan in all this was that since chips were enhanced with cylon technology we would ultimately be able to control their forces. He grinned widely ,"getting them to fire upon each other while we just sat back and watched would have eliminated any need for direct conflict", he added.

An 8's eyes widened, she was quite impressed by the plan. But a Leoban was frowning getting the immediate idea something was not right, "there was a catch", he suggested. "Yes, unfortunately it was discovered during the tests that a certain portion of humans could actually operate the drives without the chips. This would mean that while some pilots could be controlled others couldn't. The numbers in this were not high", he added

"So then it should not have made a difference ",8 suggested, "so why do you look like our world has just ended, she observed.

Indeed he did give a very human impression of shock, "it was because these pilots existed that we abandoned this method and went for infiltration of the defense main frame", he stated.

"You gave it up because you'd have a small portions of hold outs", 8 was disbelieving. "We have that situation now with the Galactica so I don't see why there was a issue".

"The humans have never come close to perfecting the technology for using an FTL in a viper", Aaron told her, "so we enhanced that with our technology as well".

Of course we were never going to give them a military advantage just ensure those chips were imbedded in pilots brains. Drives that did not work would have been given to the fleet to placate them. Then we would have launched the attack and they would have destroyed themselves from within. It would have been a fitting end to our old nemesis", he reflected

"Only it didn't end , just we gave them a military advantage anyway, all they have to do is realize that", 6 hissed.

8 frowned sensing the conversation had taken a more serious turn, "what are you talking about, she asked. "We used cylon technology for that drive, Aaron repeated, "but we had a weird factor that certain humans could make that drive jump just by thinking about it. They were kind of like our hybrids without all the hard wiring".

The 8s were beginning to turn pale as what he was saying was sinking in.

But it was a number 6 who just had to spout it out, 'he is essentially saying that while they may not be able to get the parts to build a cylon based drive any examination of the drive may reveal it's origins. Then perhaps they may figure out that that human pilot can actually influence our drives as well. Then if it came to a battle all they'd need to do is send a mental to command to our ships and we could find ourselves jumping into the nearest supa nova before our hybrids could react."

The other cyclons all looked stunned, "thankfully they don't realize what they have got", 6 concluded. "Yet, added Leoban." We have to get rid of both the pilot and the viper before they do".

The others all agreed. "Find out who that pilot is", Leoban ordered.