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mandochlorian · 5 years ago

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WHEN WILL MY LIFE BEGIN? (Smuggler Ben Solo x Resistance!Reader)

Summary: You want more than this, more than being some Resistance member stuck on Base. Ben can give you more, he can show you more. If only he weren’t so stubborn and boring. One day, he gives into your begging and takes you to a harbour for smugglers thinking you’d get scared and like your life on Base more - that is, until it gets ugly.

based loosely on the Disney animated film ‘Tangled’

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You hear the Millenium Falcon before you even see it. You feel your heart pick up speed and you can’t help the smile that glows across your face. Ben! Craning your neck to watch the ship as it speeds towards the hangar bay, Lando gives you an unamused expression.

“Alright, go,” he mutters, waving his hand in dismissal. Tilting your head at him, you frown slightly. “Go see lover boy.” Lando raises an eyebrow at you suggestively.

Pointing at him, you narrow your eyes, “Not my lover boy. But thanks!” Smiling, you jog to the massive freighter, seeing steam shoot from the exhaust pipes as it stabilises.

“I know!” You hear someone exclaim as the door and ramp begins to extend open, “You think I don’t know that? It was-” Upon seeing you, Ben ceases his argument with his droid. A smile makes its way to his lips and he places his hands on his hips. “What? D’ya miss me?”

You let out a scoff but you can’t help but smile back at him, “It’s impossible to miss your annoying voice.” If you were to step outside of yourself and watch this interaction, you’d slap yourself in the face. Are you... flirting? Stars, why do you always turn into this person when Ben Solo is around?

“Oh, really?” He muses, descending the ramp and his hands lay by his side now, “That’s not what I’ve been told.” He watches you, examines the effect he has on you when he stands close beside you.

“Hm,” you tease back, taking a moment to look up at him and ignore the heat rising to your cheeks, “then you’ve been lied to. Everyone talks about you behind your back when you leave.”

“Yeah?” He gazes at you, the corner of his lip turning up in a smile, “Glad to know I’m not the only one. I’ve heard some things about you too, princess.”

You let out a stark laugh, “Sure.”

“Oh, no, really,” he nods at you, giving you a false sincere expression, “It’s not good things. And you’re a bad liar, by the way.”

“Am I?”

“Yes,” he answers simply, his voice low and deep, “very bad.” It’s not lost on you that Ben takes a purposeful pause, pulling back before you can get a good look at the childish smirk that makes its way to his lips. “So, what do you want?”

“You know.” You sigh to him, following him and his droid as he heads to the base. It feels as though your heart is on the precipice of sinking as you await his response. Maybe today will finally be the day you get to ditch this place, even for a little while - you can escape the watchful eye of your controlling mother and let go for once. Ben’s eyes narrow slightly at you as he gives you a glance, before turning back to the droid repair room. “Ben, I-”

“I can’t take you with me, you know that.” Ben cuts your off, gesturing for his droid to join him on the bench. The 3PO unit, nicknamed ‘J’ for Junk, sits before its master, but it’s gaze lingers on yours.

“If I may interject-”

“You may not.” Ben frowns back, gently pulling J’s arm out. It had nearly gotten pulled from its socket while the pair were running from Kanjiklub only an hour ago.

“But, sir,” the droid interjects, looking to Ben who only focuses on fixing his arm as the conversation goes on, “I was only going to say it is not safe for Master Y/N.”

“Oh, for the last time,” Ben rolls his eyes at his droid, “I’m your master. I made you!”

“I know this,” J say, turning to look at you, “But Master Y/N-”

“No-”

“-She takes care of me just the same as you do.”

“Thanks, Junk,” you tell the droid. Ben pauses, letting out a sigh as he looks at you. The way you grin at him makes him want to roll his eyes but he just sighs once more instead. “I think I’ll be perfectly fine. Please.”

“You’re not smuggling with me.” Ben shakes his head, pointing a wrench at you, “That’s where I draw the line.” He clenches his jaw, looking down at you closely, “And - and what’s your obsession with this anyway, huh?” Ben asks curiously, wishing you didn’t take your hand away from his arm.

“I just - I want to get out of here,” you admit to him, “Just this once. I don’t want to be stuck here forever like my mom, I want to travel. I want to be like you.”

“No, no,” he shakes his head, “You don’t want to be like me, I’m just a smuggler. You, Y/N, you’re important here. You’re important to the Resistance, I’m just a smuggler who drops in every once in a while.”

Looking up at him, you sense he’s slightly giving in, “You’re my closest friend. Ben, please, just - get me out of here.”

“You know how much trouble you’d get into?” He asks you, thinking about his mother and your mother and General Poe, “You know how much trouble I’d be in?” He adds.

“Please,” you whisper to him, “Just for tonight.”

“No.”

“Please. Come on.”

“Are you hard of hearing?”

“Come on.”

“Ugh!” He groans, unable to focus on J’s arm, “Fine. But we’re not taking you on a run.”

You smile at him, “Where will we go?” You wonder curiously.

Thinking it over for a moment, a satisfied expression crosses his face and he continues working on J’s arm, “You’ll see.”

It was loud. And kind of... dirty. Ben thought when he turned to look at you, your face would be full of disgust. But in reality, you had never seen anything like this place before. To Ben, this was a place he’d frequent - much like his father did in his golden days.

The chatter amongst the people here almost rattles your ears as much as the music does, and you turn to Ben, tugging on his shirt to make him lean down. “This place is insane,” you tell him, lips nearly touching his ear, “How often do you come here?”

As if on cue, the noise of someone shouting tears you two apart, “Solo!”

A frown crosses Ben’s face as the familiarity of it but he stands up straight and proud, turning to face the voice that calls to him. He pauses for a moment, going a little tense. But then he leans down to whisper in your ear, “Stay behind me.” Ben takes a small step forward, half blocking you from the man who approaches with a less-than-pleased look on his face. “Bala-Tik.” Ben nods back, face expressionless.

“You and your father are hard men to find. I’ve been tracking you for months. And this...” Bala-Tik’s eyes flicker from him to you, “This is how I find you? The great smuggler Ben Solo and some girl.”

If the comment made Ben annoyed, he does nothing to show it - his cold expression and stance unwavering, “If it’s the money you’re looking for, you know I don’t have it. Yet.” Ben stares at the men clad in black leather, who watch him with hate in their eyes.

“We’re tired of your games!” He shouts, nostrils flaring as he stares Ben down, “You’ve had long enough! You think you can steal from the Guavian Death Gang and get away with it?”

“Uh, yeah,” Ben pouts, shrugging gently as he stares down at the shorter man, “Unless you want to lose both your kneecaps, I suggest you wait another month. Or until you find me again.”

Bala-Tik throws his head back as he laughs wickedly. He then tilts his head, looking down at you with a devilish grin. Ben, tall and broad, stands in front of you, causing the man to let out another chuckle. “You’re outnumbered. You and your little friend.”

“Never stopped me before.” Ben answers back, one hand hovering over the blaster on his hip. It’s not lost on you that the men have weapons of their own - and you have... nothing. Nothing but Ben. Shit. Maybe it was a bad idea. He had tried to warn you after all but you were so persistent and stubborn. Now look at you both. This is exactly the shit your mother warned you against. This is what she kept trying to protect you from. This is all your fault.

“I’m not sure you’re equip to keep both of you safe.” As soon as the threat leaves Bala-Tiks mouth, Bens blaster is pointed between his eyes. The gang pull their weapons out too and Bala-Tik smiles, clucking his tongue. “Bad decision, Solo.”

“Hey!” Someone shouts above the noise before a few shots are heard, making the customers of the cantina cower and run around. In the mess of it all, Ben pulls you against him, quickly cowering down behind the bar and shielding you with his body.

“This what you wanted?” Ben asks, peering out of the bar and firing a few shots. When you don’t respond with your usual wit, Ben turns back to gaze at your shocked expression. “Hey,” he mumbles gently, a warm hand placed on your cheek, “We’ll be back on base in no time.”

You weren’t sure how to tell him that even though this is insane and you could’ve died, it was kind of... exhilarating. Peering out again, Ben’s hand grips yours before clearing the path to the exit. But before you can leave, a loud roar causes Ben’s eyes to widen. He stops in his tracks, leaving you to watch on with frightful and curious eyes. Ben turns back to the cantina, tense shoulders falling slightly. Wide smiles grow on both your faces when you see the pair.

“Chewie!” Ben exclaims, letting go of your hand to embrace the Wookie.

“And Dad,” Han gives his son a look, shaking his head as he watches Chewie hug you too, “Y/N. I see he’s brought you into trouble.”

“Oh, no,” you shake your head, looking down, “I wan-”

“Actually, I’m pretty sure this is your fault, Dad.” Ben interjects, not letting you take the fall for this situation. He already feels bad enough putting you in harms way, there’s no way he’ll let Han relay to your mom that you had begged to go off base.

“Come again, kid?” Han narrows his eyes at his son, walking past to look at the Falcon in it’s parking spot.

Ben stands beside his dad, “You’re the one who owes the Death Gang credits.”

Pointing a finger at his son, Han gives him a frown, “Last I remember, we both made the deal!”

Ben cringes slightly, shaking his head a little at his old dad, who looks between the group with an incredulous look, “We were together... but you made that deal on your own, old man.”

Looking to Chewie for back up, Han expects agreement. But the Wookie just mewls softly. Ben is right. Your gentle laugh gains both the Solo’s attention; Han, because you shouldn’t be here at all, and Ben, because the sound makes his heart flutter as he opens the ramp to the Falcon.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Han begins, arms crossed over his chest, “You’re lucky you made it out.”

“Thanks to your son,” you smile back at Han, who’s expression seems to soften gently. He senses something between the two of you... Maybe Leia’s suspicions were right all along. Han isn’t surprised. When you look at Ben, he gives you a kind smile before taking a step on the ramp.

Han, leaning down toward you slightly gives you a look, “You know you don’t have to come along to places like this just because he’s here. He can find other friends eventually.” He teases, making you let out a laugh.

You shake your head at the old smuggler, “I don’t think so, no one else will put up with him.”

Han chuckles, looking at the Falcon which roars to life. Ben emerges from the ship, heading to you, Han, and Chewie. “Look, kid,” he begins, “I won’t tell anyone I saw you two here today. Alright?”

“Really?” Your eyes brighten as you look up at him.

Ben rests his hands on his hips, “What’s the catch?” He muses.

“No catch, just be careful, nerf-herder.” Han tells Ben, who just rolls his eyes at his dad. “Only dummies bring the Falcon here, you know how much attention she brings? Are you a dummy, Ben?” Han frowns at his son.

Ben stares at his dad. This is a common thing. Han thinks it’s funny. Ben’s not sure why. You’ve become used to it. “No... No, dad, I’m not a dummy.” Ben sighs. Stars, he wishes his parents weren’t so embarrassing every time you and him were together.

“Y/N,” Han questions, his face stoic, “are you a dummy?”

Your eyes flick to Ben’s before looking back to Han, “I... hope not.” You give a forced smile, widening your eyes slightly to make light of the situation. You’re just hoping he doesn’t report this to Leia or worse, your mom.

Chewie roars, making a comment to Han about how they both seem too young to not be dummies. Han laughs to himself, seeming to love embarrassing the two of you. He’s always been like this. Maybe this is where Ben gets his wit. “Alright, then get outta here. Before something else happens.” Han waves you both off but he gives you both a small but kind smile.

“Good seeing you, Dad,” Ben laughs, stepping back onto the ramp, “Bye Chewie!” You follow suit, waving at the pair before you and Ben ascend the ramp. He lets out a hefty sigh, heading to the cockpit and you watch him take the pilots seat. “Are you alright?” He asks, tone filled with concern when he see you standing in the doorway instead of heading to your seat beside him. “I didn’t realise tonight would go this way, I... I’m sorry. I’ll take you home right away.”

“No,” you shake your head gently with the admittance, “no, Ben, I don’t want to go home.” Ben watches you, wondering if you’re still in shock of how quickly the night turned sour. “You didn’t rat me out to your Dad,” you note, sitting beside Ben who just stares at you vacantly, “I begged to be off base tonight but you let yourself take the fall. Why?”

Thinking it over, Ben gives you a small shrug as the Falcon rattles into the air, “Didn’t want your mom to lock you in your room forever.”

“You’d miss me too much, huh?” You tease him, recounting his words from earlier as you look into the starry night sky. The ship takes off smoothly, still running like it used to.

“Yeah,” Ben breathes, causing you to turn to look at him, “Yeah, I would.” He admits, not thinking. When Ben looks to you, he just gives you this kind of look. This sort of unspoken look.

Your cheeks heat up and a smile breaks onto your face, “Well, you’re a smuggler - you could sneak me out.”

Ben grins back at you, “Yeah, and risk your life in the process. Yes, I’m still sorry about how tonight went. I feel like the worst person ever.”

“Ben, come on,” you furrow your eyebrows at your friend, “We’re here, we’re alive, no bumps or bruises. And tonight isn’t over yet.”

Ben glances from the sky in front of him and to your expression, “You’re - wait - you’re serious?” When you nod, Ben gives you a grin, “You are a rebel. The Resistance is a good fit for you then.”

Bringing the ship down, Ben eyes a good place to land on top of the sandy mountain. The silence the Falcon leaves once it’s turned off is calming. You both step out onto the cliff, overlooking dim city lights in the distance. The stars mimic the cities shine, splayed brilliantly across the navy blue sky.

It’s not cold. Not with Ben by your side. You both sit at the precipice of the cliff, thighs touching one another with the proximity. You let out a calm sigh, resting your head against Ben’s shoulder as you gaze at the beauty of this planet. “I know tonight was... insane. But I think I’m insane in saying that it was kind of-”

“If you say ‘fun’, I swear-”

“It kind of was!” You defend yourself, pulling away to look at him, “It was better than any day I’ve had on base. So, thank you.”

A small smile rests on Ben’s lips as he gazes down at you fondly, “You are insane.” He mumbles, his lips suddenly feeling incredibly close to yours.

“Says you,” you mutter back to him, “that’s the type of stuff you do every day.”

“Hm,” Ben agreed, “Does it make me rugged and handsome?”

A laugh passes your lips and you throw your head back to look at the sky, “Shut up.” You shake your head.

Ben laughs, staring at you with parted lips, “So it does! Good to know!” He muses, watching you glance at him only to stare ahead at the view.

“Shut up.”

“Don’t get all shy on me now,” Ben whispers, staring into your eyes when you look at him, “Tell me how attractive this life makes me.”

“And you call me insane?” You note, breath catching in your throat when you notice him leaning in towards you.

“Mhmm,” Ben responds, his voice barely above a whisper, “Insane enough to be here with me.”

“Well, you’re...”

Ben cuts you off with his lips pressing against yours. Your eyes are closed and you can feel his gentle hands upon your hips as he kisses you so gently. It heats your cheeks up. Makes you smile uncontrollably. Ben pulls back slowly, pressing his forehead against yours. “I’m a what?” He inquires, wanting you to finish your statement.

“You’re a...” you feel breathless as your heart pounds in your chest and your eyes remain closed, “A good kisser.”

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bvlcorr · 6 years ago

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A Semi-Automatic Turntable: Part 1

Part 1: Intro & Subsystems

For a while now, I've been considering using an Arduino in order to automate the operation of the turntable on my layout. After considering several 'bolt-on' additions, I realised that trying to add indexing to the existing, DC-motor mechanism would be cumbersome. As such, I decided to replace the drive mechanism with a stepper motor, and use that for indexing.

My original plan was to just add indexing, with a keypad to select the desired track. But then I realised that I could take it a step further, and make it fully automated. This didn't quite work out, and I instead ended up with a semi-automatic version. This is how it ended up working:

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I decided on this approach for two reasons: 1) I couldn't find sensors which would give me the accuracy required while being hidden. That is, there was always a trade-off between accuracy and visual impact. 2) My layout is a backwoods operation, with operating ground throws to change the turnouts.

As such, I wanted to have a hands-on element to the turntable's operation. While testing the fully automatic version, I found that I felt a bit 'disconnected' from what was happening. So in this series of posts, I'll be covering how I built this final version, and some of the things I learned along the way.

This first part will cover the construction and testing of the subsystems that make up the turntable controller. Some of these were built or adjusted after I'd decided to go from a fully automatic to a semi-automatic system.

I started by working out how to operate the stepper motor, a 12-volt NEMA-17 motor. This was the key to the whole system, and I'd never used one before. In order to drive it, the Arduino controls an A4988 chip. This is the red board in the photo above, with a silver heatsink on it. It takes a control signal from the Arduino, and a completely separate power supply for the motor itself. The only additional component required is the capacitor, to protect the inputs for the motor power supply, as well as a 10K ohm resistor to hold down the motor step pin when not in use.

The A4988 offers the option to drive the motor in 'microsteps', in which each pulse moves the motor by a fraction of a full, 1.8-degree step. Pins MS1, MS2 and MS3 on the A4988 are used to set which fraction is used. Setting them high, in various combinations, allows the A4988 to drive the motor in increments as little as 1/16 of a step. At this point in the build, I wasn't sure what resolution I would need. As such, I added a 4-way DIP switch between these three pins and the +5v rail, to allow me to try them. One of the switches from the DIP switch wasn't used.

Working from what I'd worked out on the breadboard, I built a motor driver board to be used in the final build.

My next step was to test that the motor had enough torque to move my locomotives. My heaviest locomotive is my boxcab, which was built on an Athearn blue-box mechanism. As such, it weighs in at around 450g.

I cut a length of wood to the same length as the turntable bridge. After finding the centre, I attached the driveshaft adapter I'd had 3D-printed by Shapeways. This fits around the shaft of the stepper motor, with a flat section where the drive shaft is flattened. It took a few tries at different sizes before it fit perfectly.

To simulate the load, I used a box of old motors I'd bought at a sale at my model train club. They were the only thing I had to hand which were heavy enough. I taped them to the top of the board, until it weighed 500g (for a bit of wriggle room). I then placed it on the end of the driveshaft.

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The motor was able to move the load without any problems. With that confirmed, I started working on the components for the control panel.

The original, fully-automatic design had two 3mm LEDs on it, one red and one green. These were to have been 'stop' and 'go' signals for when the automated turntable was operating. The other component for the control panel was a 4-digit LED display to show the address of the currently selected locomotive. Owing to the change in focus for this project, the design of the control panel changed slighlty between the initial and final versions. But before I could build it, I needed to build the 4-digit LED display.

I'd done one of these on the base station for my DCC system. On that occassion, I'd made the display from four individual 7-segment displays, driven my a MAX7219 LED driver chip. This time around, I decided to use a 4-digit display, driven by the same chip. With the four digits in the one package, it only needs 12 connections for full functionality. I wired the 4-digit display to the MAX7219, leaving out the connections for the decimal points between the digits. They weren't needed.

To test it, I wrote an Arduino sketch (program) that counted up to 10,000 in 0.01 second increments and ran it. I was able to re-use a function I'd written for the base station, which will take a number up to 9,999 and display it across the four digits of such a display.

With that done, I was able to build the control panel itself.

When I decided to go from automatic to semi-automatic operation, I replaced the red LED on the panel with a single-pole, double-throw momentary contact switch. This is used to turn the turntable, via the stepper motor. I'd used a length of Cat5 network cable to connect the control panel to the Arduino, to keep things organised. This had a spare wire left in it. As such, I was able to wire the switch to the ground connection, then use the original wire for the red LED and the spare wire to connect to each side of it.

In order to get the program to work properly, there are a couple of points at which it pauses to prevent a false triggering while the locomotives move on and off the turntable. After initial testing, I realised it would make things clearer if there were an indication of when these pauses were occurring. So I added a yellow LED to the control panel, to indicate when the system was active. If this LED is on, then the turntable can be turned, locos can arrive and depart, etc. If it's off, then the system is paused.

Once completed, this control panel was installed in place of the original control panel on the fascia. The original panel had just had two switches, a DPDT rocker to control the DC turntable motor, and a 12-position rotary switch to select track power.

Next up was the occupancy detector, to determine when a train was on the bridge. The design of this turntable provides constant power to the tracks, with an auto-reverser reversing the polarity as needed. After a bit of experimentation, I found that wrapping the wire at least four times through the coil was enough to allow it to detect the current of a sound decoder at idle. At least, that's what I thought.

It's the first time I've used a coil like this, and it was sold amongst other Arduino modules. As such, I thought I would be able to plug it straight into an analog pin of the Arduino, and take a reading from that. This was not actually the case. As DCC is very close to AC current, I ended up getting several values from the coil over the course of a second, including 0, which would create false negatives. After asking about this on the Arduino forums, I learned that the way these coils work is by generating AC current, in response to the current going through them. I thought they just sensed it. As such, I'd accidentally been putting 38v of AC into the analog pin I was using, and had damaged it.

In order to use the coil for DCC occupancy detection, some supporting circuitry is needed. I found this article here, outlining how to build a sensor out of such a coil. I didn't have the exact same transistor, and instead used a BC548 NPN general-purpose transistor. The yellow wires off the board go to the two sides of the coil, and the green one goes to the Arduino.

Once I'd built this, I tested it with my locomotives before connecting it to the Arduino. This was where I discovered something interesting. The circuit is designed to give a digital output, in which anything less than 1.5v on the Arduino pin is counted as a 0, and anything above it as a 1. When testing it, I found that it produced an output of 3.7 volts when no locomotive was present, and that this dropped when one was detected. However, about half of my locomotives only dropped it to a value above the 1.5v required for a digital 0, yet less than the 3.7v of the 'nothing detected' state. As such, I connected it to another analog pin on my Arduino. These voltages translated to an analog read value above 900 when nothing was detected, and below 900 when something was. Thus, I used an analog reading with a threshold of 900 in the program function to detect occupancy.

At this point, the next item to be tested was a socket for an XBee wireless module. I'd already used these to make my DCC system, as well as to transmit the address of the incoming locomotive to my automated staging controller. As such, I pulled out a spare XBee, and configured it identically to the one for the staging controller. It'll be used for the exact same purpose, receiving addresses when a locomotive is dispatched. I tested it by connecting it to the Arduino, then rigging up the Arduino to display the received locomotive address on the LED display.

The next step was to prepare the Arduino shield. I usually use prototyping shields for the connections to the Arduino, as this means that I can just unplug the shield and pull the Arduino out if any software updates are needed. I've found it's easier to solder two wires together under the layout, than it is to solder to a shield. So I added small lengths of decoder wire to each output.

My turntable has 11 tracks around it, and I didn't have 11 spare pins on the Arduino. Instead, I used a 16-channel multiplexer with channels 1-11 wired to a bank of relay switches. I started counting at channel 1 instead of 0 in order to make the software code a bit simpler. The resistor on pin 4 is 220 ohms, and is connected to the green LED on the control panel. At this point, I hadn't added the yellow LED to the control panel. When I did, I added a 220 ohm resistor to pin 13, and connected this LED in there.

The other component of note is the variable resistor connected to pin A1. I was originally going to have a light detecting resistor in the turntable lead track, to trigger the Arduino when a train was leaving or arriving. However, after getting the occupancy sensor working reliably, the LDR was no longer needed.

The final building block was the relay bank. I'd bought a 16-relay module off eBay, and I installed it behind the fascia, next to the control panel. The wires from the original 12-way rotary switch to the tracks came out here, so by putting it in this position, I didn't have to do too much in the way of rewiring. Each track was wired to the normally-open contacts on the first 11 switches, with wires from the common side of the relay going to the track bus. The multicoloured ribbon cable on the far side of the relay bank goes to the Arduino, with two wires for the power supply and the other wires for the track control.

With all the building blocks worked out, the next step was to install the stepper motor and modify the turntable. This will be covered in part 2 of this writeup.

#Arduino #layout automation #model railroad #On30

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