Disclaimer: All Robotech characters and vehicles property of Harmony Gold USA
Any songs or lyrics used are the property of the respective artists.
The setting is "What if Ben Dixon had not died in Bursting Point?"
This is my first attempt at fan fiction; constructive criticism is always welcome.
This chapter has been revised and expanded.
Chapter 1 – Blinded by the Light
"Sorry I didn't give you any grandchildren, Mom."
Funny what kinds of thoughts run through a man's head when he's milliseconds from death. Ben Dixon could feel the rear of his Veritech beginning to crumple as the shockwave from the overload has reached the tail section. Ben wasn't afraid of death, but today was absolutely not a good day to die. His wing leader, Rick Hunter, was yelling "Ben! Hit your afterburners now! Do you copy?" All Ben can say in despair is "It's too late Rick! I can't …. AARRRGGGHHHHHHHH!", then everything goes white as the fireball overtakes his plane.
The scene jumps back to the beginning, but seems to have sped up.
"Sorry I didn't give you any…."
The sound of the shock wave catching up to Ben's Veritech.
The sick sound of crumpling metal.
Rick screaming "Ben! Hit your afterburners now! Do you copy?"
"It's too late, Rick...AARRGGGHHHHHHH!"
Nothing but white.
The scene is restarting, moving faster….
"Sorry I didn't give….."
Crumpling metal.
"Ben…afterburners…copy?"
"Too late…. AARRGGGHHHHHH!"
Blinding white.
Again, as if on a cosmic repeat, images flying by so fast you can hardly hear what is being said.
"Sorry…."
Crumpling.
"Ben…copy?"
"Too late...too late...too late…"
White.
Finally the end?
"Good God! Nurse, get this man back under! He's coming around and I'm not finished with the surgery!"
"Yes, doctor."
Darkness.
Untold hours, days, weeks of darkness went by. There was no sense of time in that state.
Rick Hunter was yelling "Ben! Hit your afterburners now! Do you copy?"
"It's too late Rick! I can't …..AARRGGGHHHHHH!"
There was the sound of crumpling metal and a blinding white light.
Ben's eyes popped open as he awoke, confused, not sure he was still alive. He was staring directly at a light fixture overhead; that explains the blinding brightness. He could barely raise his head to look around and saw he was in a hospital room, although the windows were dark. It was nighttime. My God! He wasn't dead! He really did punch the afterburners in time to race ahead of the fireball from the overloaded shield system! But he heard crumpling metal? Oh yeah, his Veritech did get damaged. He fell back asleep as his mind replayed the crash landing.
After the battle
"BEN!" Rick screamed in panic as he and Max dodged oblivion.
"It's OK boss, I think I made it," Ben replied weakly, "She's pulling away from that fireball, but the controls are sluggish. Can one of you check out my tail?"
"I'm on it Skipper!" Max jumped in, "Looks like your aft control surfaces are pretty bent up. Keep it level while I check out your underside."
"Roger Max. I'll try not to wobble around too much."
"What's it look like Max?" asked a concerned Rick.
"Not good skipper. It appears enough of the blast wave got to Ben's Veritech to mess things up. The port waldo arm looks like it's fused to the port engine assembly. Ben's Veritech won't be able to changes modes now."
"How's that new and different, buddy?" Ben groused sarcastic. His planes always seemed to take more than their fair share of battle damage.
"It's going to make landing a bit more difficult." observed Max, "It would have been better to shift into Guardian mode and land gently."
"Well, I'll radio ahead to Prometheus and let them know we'll need the crash carts." said a worried Rick 'And maybe an ambulance.'
Ben's Veritech was flying stable although it was still handling very sluggish; he still thought it was possible to bring it in for a landing. 'Hold together, damn you! Hold together!' Ben silently prayed. The ground around the SDF-1 was devastated for miles in all directions, making ejecting from the crippled craft an option of extreme last resort. His was the last plane flying. With his Veritech still holding together but with the probability high for a crash landing, Control had decided to let everyone else land first. But now it was finally Ben's turn. It was difficult to turn and line up with the runway, but Ben managed to maneuver dead center of the approach zone.
"Alright Control. I'm starting my final approach. Tailhook is reading as extended. Do you have a visual on that?"
"Roger Vermillion 3. We have visual on the tailhook. Advise you try to hook one of the first arresting cables.
"Copy that Control." Ben replied. 'Phew. That will make life easier if I can snag one of the cables."
Ben throttled down and extended what was left of his flaps and his landing gear. The only thing left to do was pray. Luck was with him so far; he was lined up dead center of Prometheus' flight deck. Ben eased the ship lower, trying to make sure he didn't descend too quickly and hit the ship below the flight deck. He glanced quickly to the side and saw his nose had cleared the edge of the decking. 'Now!' Ben thought as he cut the power. The rear wheels bounced on the deck and the tail hook snagged the second arrestor cable…and was ripped off the plane from the shock. This caused the Veritech to bounce and when then landing gear hit the deck again the port main gear collapsed. The port wing bent up and tore away as the Veritech slid the length of the deck, finally coming to rest when the nose collided with the superstructure.
Emergency vehicles and crew raced to where the wrecked plane had stopped. Ben was unconscious but still alive and looking severely injured, especially his right leg. The crews worked quickly to free him, but it still took almost twenty minutes before they were able to extricate him from the crumpled mess that was left of his plane and get him on a stretcher. From there it was only a couple of more minutes to Sickbay where a trauma team was waiting for the ambulance. It took less than a minute to triage Ben and rush him into surgery. Now it was up to the doctors.
Everyone on the bridge had been crossing their fingers and praying that Ben could make it back to the ship, and were about to breath a collective sigh of relief when the tail hook snapped off. The entire bridge crew heard the squeal of tortured metal and the sick crunch when the plane came to a sudden stop and many faces turned pale. One junior office with raven hair and violet eyes had put her hands in her face when Ben had begun his final approach; she couldn't bear to watch. Now all she could do was weep openly as everyone else gathered around to comfort her. She didn't stop crying until news reached the bridge that Ben had made it out of surgery and was recovering in Intensive Care.
Author's note: I picked Ben Dixon to feature in a story for two reasons: 1) After reading a number of the stories posted here, his character seemed to have the most blank canvas on the easel. 2) I probably was Ben when I was the same age: tall with a goofy sense of humor and an unshakeable sense that I was better than I really was.
Also much thanks to Hung Nguyen and their story Aces of Hearts. Although not a major character in that story, there was still enough of Ben there to get a better understanding of the character and his background.
Chapter title is a lyric from the song Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann.