Humanity was born and raised on land, adapting to the harsh climates of the frozen north, the sweltering desert, and the thickest jungles. On the land is where also where Mankind would leave its lasting mark on the world, building great cities and making many inventions. Great stories of conquest were also written above solid earth from when Cain murdered his brother Abel in the Book of Genesis, to the Muslim Siege of Jerusalem, to the Allied invasion of Europe.
We were born on land. And yet, we have also always been drawn to the sea.
They began to appear nearly 5000 years ago in the Mediterranean Sea. They were the largest, most glorious moving objects known to mankind. Powered by oars, their tactics were simple; they rammed and sank enemy ships. Soldiers on board carried only bows, arrows, and spears. Yet, great battles ensued. Raging for weeks, there was often the loss of hundreds of ships and thousands of men.
For centuries to come, navies with the best-trained crews, the bravest commanders, and the mightiest warships would rule the world.
***
The sound of jet engines mixed in with the noise of a busy airport. A single C-17A Globemaster III cargo plane rolled along before stopping at a designated spot. After shutdown procedures, the ramp at the rear lowered, and its cargo of various military personnel and equipment came out. But one of the cargo was unlike all the others, it was special. And it was in the form of a tired man standing at 5’11 feet tall with dark brown hair and blue eyes in United States Navy Dress Blues holding a suitcase, briefcase, and duffel bag in his hands.
The rising sun assaulted his vision, forcing him to lower his cap a bit and turn away as he tried to get his eyes to adjust to the brightness. Once he did, he looked around until he found what he was looking for. A young man in a Navy Service Uniform with shades on standing leaning against a black Chevrolet Suburban turned his head towards him and then approached him.
“Aloha, Commander,” He greeted with a salute. “Welcome to Hawaii.”
“Morning, Lieutenant. Glad to be on the ground already, my legs are killing me,” He replied with a salute too.
“Well, you’ve still got time to kill, sir. The Admiral wants to talk to you at 1000, he thought you’d be jet lagged as hell. So, he said to take you to your quarters, get you settled down, and then get you lunch first before everything else,” The Lieutenant told him as he collected his things.
“How nice of him. Alright, Best, let’s get out of here,” Commander Eric Halsey Ryan, said as he hopped into the backseat of the SUV
“Of course, Commander,” Lieutenant Junior Grade Daniel Mattis Best replied before hopping into the driver’s seat and driving off.
“How’re you doing here, Danny? I hope the boredom of this liaison job isn’t killing you already?” Ryan inquired.
Best chuckled. “Not yet, sir, but I got close. I’ve actually been quite busy these past months, lots of shit has been happening here in Pearl recently. But, I’m still waiting to be assigned to a squadron. I’ve got wings, but until I get in an airplane, it’s useless,” He replied. “What about you, Commander, how’s the promotion treating you?”
Ryan shrugged. “I don’t feel too different, honestly. I guess it’s cause I’m just used to being thrown around everywhere my whole navy career, or the fact that my pay isn’t that much from before. Pick one, it doesn’t matter. But overall, I guess it’s okay. Especially now when I’m finally getting a stable job,” He answered.
Looking through the window, he saw the normal happenings within a military base. Nothing out of the ordinary, until he saw something quite strange. Running around together were two girls, probably only five feet tall, with bright pink colored hair. Not only that, but they also wore quite bizarre outfits, the skirt of one was too short for a little girl like her while the other one was more on the safe side with the high black stockings but still not ideal. It was certainly strange, but because of the way they were acting, he dismissed them as kids playing around and thought nothing more of it.
“You’ve had it a bit rough, Commander. I’m surprised you’re not more thrilled,” Best remarked.
“Oh, I am very thrilled. Just kinda tired right now so I don’t have the energy to look like it,” He replied as he continued to look out the window.
“Aye sir, just making sure.”
“Hmm, that being said, I hope this job won’t be too hard
“Aye, sir,” Best said, but internally, he was cringing. I hope you won’t be too weirded out by what’s about to be dropped on you, Mr. Ryan.
***
The time in between went off without a hitch. Ryan had settled down in his new place on Ford Island, all expenses paid by the navy, much to his surprise. And then he was treated to a pretty high-class breakfast which was on the house from the admiral. At that point, he was starting to suspect something because it seemed like he was being buttered up for something. But despite some clues, he had no idea, and he couldn’t just go assuming things.
However, there was something else he noticed. In some of the places he visited, there were these girls walking around. Some were like little kids while others were grown adults, but they all wore these bizarre clothes that showed off their ‘assets’ very well. One woman had her blue top open to show off her thick armor that was being held in place by a black bra. And to top it all up, all of them were so goddamn cute and gorgeous that it was unreal! Those kinds of women only existed in the deepest fantasies of men, and yet here they were. And that was what put him on guard.
In other words, something very weird was going on in the base and it unnerved him. What kind of twisted morale-boosting event is going on here? He wondered to himself.
Eventually, it was time to meet the Admiral, his new boss for the foreseeable future. The black SUV stopped outside, one of the office buildings on the base, got out with his briefcase, and headed inside. It was a plain-looking building that was three stories tall and had been around since 1942. Those who don’t know and who have not seen the sign won’t think that it was actually the headquarters for the United States Pacific Fleet.
Ryan headed over to reception where the desk personnel had someone lead him to a conference room where he was instructed to wait. It was just him and the silence of the room for some time that allowed him to recall everything that had happened in the day, and it allowed him to think about the sightings of those girls earlier. Who were they and what were doing here? What was happening in Pearl? And come to think of it, what even is this new job of his? All he got after his sudden promotion was a summon to come to Hawaii and report to the CINCPAC, that was it. So what could it be? His answer would then come when the door opened and a man in Service Khakis walked in.
“Good morning, Admiral, sir,” Ryan greeted, standing bringing his hand up to a salute.
Admiral Andrew Lee Thorson, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, eyed the commander for a moment before bringing his hand up to return the salute.
“Morning, Commander, welcome to Pearl,” He greeted whilst returning the salute. “Please have a seat, Commander. How’ve you been doing since getting here?”
“I’m just fine, Admiral. Thank you. And it’s an honor, sir, for this opportunity,” Ryan replied as he sat back down.
“You’re welcome, son. Now, you must be confused as hell about all of this right? Sudden promotion, an order to go to Pearl from out of nowhere, and other vague shit. You must be wondering that, huh?” Thorson asked as he took the seat at the head of the table.
“If I’m being honest, then yes sir. I don’t understand what’s going on right now, and I’d very much like an explanation.”
Thorson smirked. “And you’ll get it, commander. But, let me review you first,” He said before reading from a file. “Commander Eric Halsey Ryan from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Born February 17, 1987. Second of three brothers who are all in the Navy. Current age is twenty-eight years old. And civil status is single, never married. Is that right?”
“Yes sir.”
“Okay. Now tell me, what made you enter the Navy?”
“Well, like a lot of people then, I joined because 9/11 happened. No one I knew was hurt, but seeing those towers fall and those people suffering on live TV triggered something within me. I wanted to go out there and kill every son of a bitch involved with it. I was only fifteen at the time, but I knew what I wanted to do, what I needed to do. So, I worked my ass off to get into Annapolis after that,” Ryan answered. “My brothers were more or less the same too, but our outcomes are different.”
“Hmm, indeed you have. Top of your class in your schools, in Annapolis, and a top completer of your BUD/S class too. Quick on your feet, good leader, good fighter, good almost everything. You’re basically a genius of a sailor,” Thorson stated as he read from a file folder before putting it down and eyeing him. “So, why are we talking right now when you could be blowing up ISIS compounds instead?”
Ryan clenched his jaw while he remained silent for a moment. He knew this was coming, the inquiry on despite supposedly being the best, he got stuck doing jobs that while not unimportant or terrible pale in comparison to what he could’ve been instead.
He sighed. “I served only one tour in Afghanistan, but I… I saw too much and decided to go elsewhere.”
The Admiral nodded. “Understandable. How are you holding up now?”
“Much better, sir. I was younger then, and older now. I’m ready to take on anything now, much more than before. I won’t let anything hold me back again, Admiral.”
The Admiral smiled a little. “Alright then. Don’t worry about it, and I don’t doubt your capabilities. But don’t push yourself, alright?”
Ryan smiled. “Yes sir! Thank you, sir!”
Thorson nodded and picked up the folder again. “Now, it also says here that you’re knowledgeable in history, specifically naval history and tactics. Is that right?”
He nodded. “Yes, sir, history is one of my strongest points. And because of my family’s own history in the navy, my interest gravitated towards there as well.”
“How far does this knowledge extend?”
“About as far as the Greco-Persian wars when the best way to sink an enemy vessel was crashing your own vessel at it. But my strongest points are in naval warfare during the 20th century. Jutland, Denmark Strait, Midway, Leyte Gulf, I’ve been reading about those since I was ten years old.”
“Good to hear, that’ll come in handy for you.”
“Am I receiving a teaching job, Admiral? Or am I going to be made to write a book?” Ryan asked jokingly.
“No, but writing a book is something you might want to do too, if you hold that much knowledge, Commander,” Thorson chuckled.
“Believe me, I might just do it,” Ryan joked along. “So, what will it be, Admiral? Am I going to be assigned my own ship?”
The Admiral then clenched his jaw. “Well, yes… but actually no.”
Ryan cocked an eyebrow. “Pardon?”
“It’s better you see it first,” Thorson before looking down at his watch. “She’ll be here any second now.”
She? Ryan questioned internally.
Female naval personnel have existed for decades, but he gets the vibe that this one is different. However, before he could wonder about it more, there was a firm knock on the door before it opened with a figure walking in that instantly drew all his attention. Walking inside was a woman that was about 5’7 feet tall with waist-long, silver-colored hair, pale skin, and amethyst-colored eyes. She wore a black long coat with three tails and a red interior that she wore off her shoulders over a white sleeveless button-up top with gold buttons, a black tie around her neck, a black belt around her midriff, and a black miniskirt with a gold hem. She also had a US Navy peaked cap on her head, long black boots, and black thigh-highs with a white strap where the welt was.
To sum her up, she was absolutely fucking gorgeous it was impossible! Hell, she looked more like a character from one of those Japanese cartoons kids these days loved so much. And that was what put him on guard. There was something not quite right with this woman. The odd clothes that are forbidden in any military base and odd physical features aside, she gave off an aura similar… similar to a combat veteran that has seen countless amounts of action. Ryan’s brain told him to be careful with her and not to treat her like some cosplaying hooker. Which was why he concealed any emotion he felt with a polite nod and smile.
“Good morning, sir. I’ve finished my report and left it on your desk as requested,” She reported in a firm voice while snapping up into a salute which surprised him even more.
“Good morning and well done, I’ll be reading it later,” Thorson greeted as he returned the salute before turning to the commander. “Aren’t you going to introduce yourself to the lady?”
“Sir,” He said before turning to the mystery woman and extending a hand for a handshake. “Commander Eric Halsey Ryan, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
She took his hand and gave it a firm shake. “USS Enterprise CV-6, it’s a pleasure to meet you too, Commander.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“...”
“... U-Um, excuse me, Commander?” She asked.
“H-huh?!” He blurted out after being brought out of his trance. “U-um, yes?”
“Could you please let go of my hand now,” She requested kindly, shaking her right hand which was still locked in his grip.
“R-Right,” He stuttered as he hurriedly let go of her hand. He then turned back to Thorson who had sat back down. “Admiral?”
He shrugged and simply gestured to them. “Commander Ryan, Enterprise CV-6. Enterprise CV-6, Commander Ryan.”
That only confused him some more. “W-What?!”
“Thanks for dropping by, Enterprise. You’re free to enjoy your day however you please,” Thorson said.
“Admiral, Commander,” She said with a salute to both of them, but her gaze lingered on Ryan for just a little bit before she departed the room.
The Commander turned to the Admiral who had a neutral look on his face. “Sir, what the hell was that?”
He sighed as he sat back down. “That was proof we know absolutely jack shit, Ryan. Please take a seat, there’s a hell of a lot to explain.”
You’re goddamn right there are! Ryan internally yelled as he sat back down.
“Brace yourself, Commander, you’re going to hear things that make no sense at all but it’s the cold hard truth,” Thorson told him. “And first off, everything I’m about to tell you is classified beyond top secret, so you best keep your mouth shut, alright?”
“Yes, Admiral, I know the drill,” Ryan replied. “Now, where’d you even find them?”
“We found them six months ago. Subs stumbled upon them at around three hundred nautical miles northeast of Midway Atoll. They were pretty gob-smacked to find a World War 2-era fleet just cruising around. When we got the first report, we thought it was some sort of elaborate joke, but where the fuck do you get a 1:1 replica of a Yorktown-class aircraft carrier just for a prank?”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Ryan mumbled as he took the folder.
“Now tell me, Commander, what do you know about the multiverse theory?” Thorson asked.
“Not much besides something I think I’ve read from a comic book when I was a teenager,” He answered.
“Well, Commander, the multiverse is a hypothetical group of multiple universes. Together, these universes comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, information, and the physical laws and constants that describe them. The theory also states alternate realities that are different from one another. Some realities are the same as ours with only a few changes while others are completely different. Some realities are also in different time periods, it’s 2015 right now but in other realities, it might be 1815 or 2115. And that is where it correlates with Enterprise and her friends. She’s not from this world, at least not completely. She explained that their nature as shipgirls means that large parts of her were drawn from this reality such as the ship she’s based on and the memories of her crew,” Thorson explained.
“I see, so in a way, they’re not completely alien, just kind of, right?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“Damn. But those… girls, what are they actually?” Ryan asked.
“According to them, they are known as shipgirls, also known as Kansens. Using a piece of captured alien technology called Wisdom Cubes, warships are given human form through a process that even they can’t explain. All they know is that it works somehow. Their ‘souls’ are made up of the memories and experiences of those that crewed them, and their physique and capabilities are based on their warship. A twenty-three-thousand-ton carrier such as Enterprise has the appearance of an adult woman, while a destroyer will look like a little girl. That’s how it works based on their explanations and our own observations. Well, for the most part,” Thorson explained.
“For the most part?” Ryan asked with a cocked eyebrow.
“They described some battleships like Nagato and Warspite as having the physique and appearance of little girls, among other things,” Thorson added.
“Ah, okay,” Ryan said. Gotta watch out for that.
“There’s more. They possess superhuman strength, agility, and endurance even without their rigging which is basically their combat gear that they can summon anytime at will. Their human forms can also literally walk on water as long as they have their riggings deployed.”
“Goddamn, literal superhuman beings actually existing,” Ryan breathed.
“But, they have limits too. Their hulls are still their main fighting equipment while their riggings are reserved for fighting Siren Kansens. And there’s a big power difference between the two. For example, the guns on New Jersey's rigging are only as powerful as a field artillery gun, but her ship’s 16-inch guns leave some nasty craters.
“Their human forms and hulls are also connected; whatever happens to one will affect the other. And they’re not immortal, examinations and they themselves have stated that they can be hurt or killed. And because they have human forms, they also possess almost every good and bad trait a regular human has. They need to eat, they need to rest, and their ammunition and fuel stores need to be replenished. But most importantly, they can think independently, and they can feel. So, you’d do well not to treat them like robots since it’s one of the last things you want to do since they’re still at least eighty percent human,” Thorson reminded.
“Right, so they’re still mostly human and not a bunch of freaks,” Ryan chuckled. “Heh, to be honest, sir, I wouldn’t even care if they were a bunch of freaks just as long as they don’t start shooting those guns left and right. Speaking of which, though they are what they are, they’re still man-made. So, why were they made?”
Thorson dropped another file on the table and gestured to it. “That’s why.”
Picking it up and opening it, he was greeted by a picture of a very strange-looking ship taken from a submarine’s periscope. It had a catamaran-type hull with a strange superstructure layout and armament array. But the most striking thing about it was the jet-black hull with glowing red lines on top, wrapping the whole ship. Just by looking at it, he was confused.
“What the hell is this ship, Admiral? The thing’s impractical as hell, even for an early 20th-century navy,” He asked.
“That, Commander, is a Siren ship,” He answered. “The Sirens are an alien race that invaded the alternate reality the girls came from and started fucking everything up. According to them, they’re just blowing shit up for the sake of blowing shit up because they’re not even going for any precious resource they come across. But due to humanity’s inferior technology, which going by the girls’ description is only in the 1920s during the first encounters, they were almost pushed into the brink of extinction. But after forming an alliance and capturing Wisdom Cube technology from the Sirens they were able to defeat and harness their power, the shipgirls were created and turned the tide in favor of humanity.
“And as you can see, whatever brought the girls here is also bringing in these things too. When we first took the girls in, they did their best to explain the Siren threat, but we didn’t believe them. Well, we didn’t believe them until a fleet of those things decided to spar with CSG 11. We won, our weapons did phenomenally well while barely sustaining any damages or casualties, but the fact the enemy can deploy through fucking portals freaked us out a lot, and we started taking the threat more seriously since then,” He explained.
“I see,” Ryan said. “This alliance, what is it?”
“It’s a multinational alliance called Azur Lane, dedicated to exterminating the Sirens from their world. It was very successful. But recently, it had a falling out causing a breakaway faction called Crimson Axis to form and declare war on Azur Lane over resources and territories that have been contested. It only lasted for a year, but it cost every country involved a hell of a lot. So, tensions are high among them. You can read more about it in these files.”
“So even politics still screws over the greater good in other worlds, huh?” Ryan joked, earning a laugh from the Admiral. “What’s the status of the girls?”
“So far, we’ve found fifty of them. And They’re all fine, a bit bored but fine. We gave them housing within Pearl and fake identities once we were confident enough to let them out into the city. We initially considered keeping them somewhere quieter like Midway, but that’s just cruel. Besides, they blend in quite nicely, even the ones with weird features,” Thorson answered. “Now, they’re working with us to study and counter the Siren threat as well as help out around the base. We’re even giving them salaries too.”
“Mhmm,” Ryan hummed before another thought occurred to him. “Admiral, going by the description of the Sirens, there’s no way we can keep this a secret for long,” Ryan added.
“We know. Everyone knows. We’ve had about eight encounters with the Sirens already, most being in the Pacific but one of them popped up in the Atlantic, and by some miracle, we were able to stay quiet about it. We have the screw really tight on this, but we know it’s only a matter of time before those things attack a civilian vessel or coastal city. And once it spreads on the internet, any chance to contain it is gone. The whole military has quietly increased its alertness and we’ve also notified our allies to be on the lookout, but the clock’s ticking. This is to be treated as a DEFCON 1 level threat, while at the same time, staying as quiet about it as possible so the public does not freak out. We’ll have something to tell the public when it does go out but we want to keep it under wraps for as long as we can,” Thorson explained.
“I see,” Ryan said before taking a deep breath and asking the million-dollar question. “So, what’s my purpose in all this.”
Admiral Thorson shifted in his seat to make himself more comfortable before taking a deep breath and speaking.
“The whole nest has come together and discussed the problem. The President, SecDef, Joint Chiefs, DoD, Coast Guard, NSA, NSC, Homeland Security, FBI, CIA, everyone came together. A lot is to be done but one thing we’re going to do is create a sub-branch of the navy called the US Navy Kansen Command (USNKC) to manage the shipgirls we have acquired and will acquire in the future. The organization is aimed at working closely with the shipgirls to better understand them and keep them in check while also investigating or neutralizing anything involving the girls, Wisdom Cubes, and Sirens. And like every other organization, it needs someone at the helm.”
Thorson then leaned forward and stared directly into Ryan’s eyes.
“You have been chosen as the CO of the USNKC, Commander Ryan. We’ve reviewed the records of ten-thousand officers, and you ended up number one on the list. Among other things, your flexibility, adaptability, and ability to stay calm under pressure and think outside of the box are exactly what we need. I also heard that you are quite patient and understanding which is great because normal military rules aren’t going to work with these girls who each have their own quirks. And besides, I feel like I can trust you more than someone chosen by a fucking politician. These girls don’t deserve politicians commanding them,” Thorson answered, saying the last part with some bitterness. “So, will you accept, Commander?”
Ryan was speechless. Going by the pattern of topics and why he was there in the first place, he had a few guesses about what his involvement would be. None of them was an offering for the position of CO of the whole thing. How could he think that?! It’s not like he’s done anything special for the Navy! Sure, he had good grades and was a certified SEAL, but so is a fuckton of other people!
Feeling the gaze of the CINCPAC, he swallowed the lump in his throat and asked. “What happens if I decline, sir?”
“You’ll still retain the rank of Commander, you’re due for it anyway. But you’ll be going back to serving in a radioactive sardine can for the rest of your career. I don’t mean demean submariners whose jobs are still crucial for the navy, but the former option is a much more exciting one,” He answered.
Another lump formed in his throat after that. He was being made to decide whether or not he would accept a position that would be so important it would likely be a topic in history books in a few decades. With that in mind, he sighed.
“C-Can, I have some time to think it through, Admiral?” He asked.
Thorson nodded. “Of course, this is a hell of a responsibility to ask someone off. And it’s going to be one for the history books too.”
“Yeah, right,” Ryan breathed. “Holy shit, this would be taking ‘treat your boat right’ onto the next level.”
“No, Commander, it’ll be taking it up at least three levels,” Thorson remarked. “Anyway, that’s all I have to say to you. As for the request, I don’t need your answer now, but giving it to me ASAP would be appreciated.”
“Of course, Admiral.”
“Alright then. And oh, one last thing, you can find the girls roaming around the base. If you want some more insights, you can talk to them.”
“Aye, sir, I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Good, you’re dismissed.”
With a salute that was promptly returned, Ryan collected his things and left the room. He then exited the building through the back before walking some distance until he was within a small hut overlooking the little river behind the building. There, he took off his cap and placed it on a table with his briefcase. He then pulled out a pack of Marlboro Reds and stuck one in his mouth, lighting it up with a match. He took a few good puffs while observing the peacefulness of the water and trees while also mulling over everything that had been told to him. Sure, he promised to never be so indecisive again but this kind of decision required a lot of thinking so it gets a pass.
“For a civilization to be forced to play God in order to survive… How the hell do they handle that?” He wondered.
“… Laffey…”
He froze upon hearing that…
***
This is the first chapter of my AL fanfiction, Worlds Collide. Its setting is in the real world (our world), but the AL as a game or anime doesn't exist. I want to try something different in the AL mix by putting it in our complex world, where the Kansen will tackle all sorts of problems side from just the Sirens.
I'll post all the other chapters here soon, but for those that don't fit, I'll only be posting a part of it. This story is available on FanFiction.net and will soon be available on AO3 once I figure it out.
First chapter on FFnet

Extremis Diabolus: The High Protector
Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods."
- Dan Abnett
Chapter 1
001.M42 – Sophano Secundus – Trail of Saint Evisser
Sophano Secundus was a drab ball of vast scrub lands interspersed with coniferous forests, cold highlands, and wet lowlands; broken up by small inland freshwater oceans around the equator. From this distance, thousands of kilometers from the dank, clouded atmosphere Lieutenant Commander Fiora Hermatov stared out from the observation deck beneath the bridge of the Imperial Carrier Lord Ordamros. She saw the flashes of explosions from the fire of cruisers and corvettes running ahead of the larger ships and felt the dull concussions and thuds of the dreadnought guns at long range as they quickly decimated the small token fleet of captured Naval Vessels and rogue trader ships the heretics had cobbled together in the vain attempt to prevent the Imperial Navy from landing ground forces from Treyptos, the system’s fortress world. The carrier, along with several imperial dreadnoughts, had been ordered in by Imperial Navy Command centered at Treyptos to support the ground operations and purgation of the planetary capital at Hadjisheim. Fiora gazed pensively at the nearby dreadnoughts, she knew the one purpose they served, the grim business of planetary bombardment. Deep in thought she barely noticed Lieutenant Graves appear behind her right shoulder, his reflection in the thick glass of the observation deck the only thing that gave him away.
“Commander.” He said, interrupting her running thoughts.
“Yes Lieutenant?” She stated casually.
“The group is assembled in the briefing room and ready for you, also, we have an attaché for this upcoming sortie.”
Fiora turned to face LT Graves, he was a young man for his position, dark skinned and trim at only 26 standard years old.
“An attaché? From where?”
“Commander Lydia DuGrae, she has orders directly from fleet command at Treyptos.”
“Why have we never heard of her?” Fiora thought out loud.
“I had the same though Commander, but I ran it through the Yeomen and she checks out – she has several service records – most recently from Armageddon against that Ork incursion.”
“Interesting, still doesn’t answer why she is here…” she said under her breath. To Graves she said “Please send her to my office now.”
Fiora turned and began walking toward her office which was across the hall from the briefing room, she made herself comfortable in her brass and leather chair she inherited from the previous wing commander and waited. She hadn’t waited more than a moment before a tall, dark-haired woman entered her office and slid the door behind her with a small hiss. She was dressed in tailored a tan flight suit and black boots, with a laspistol holstered across her chest. DuGrae was apparently an older woman of middling age, though Fiora noticed some telltale signs of rejuvenat treatments that rendered DuGrae’s age impossible to tell. She was, from all appearances in excellent physical condition and though not like the pretty socialites Fiora knew from her childhood days, DuGrae was a ruggedly handsome woman in her opinion and carried herself with knowing confidence. Her piercing green eyes appraised Fiora.
“Commander Hermatov, I presume?” she said with ease.
Fiora stood and took her offered hand “Good to meet you Commander DuGrae, may I see your orders please?”
“Straight to the point, I like that, trust me I am not here to take your command.” DuGrae said as she handed over a cogitator stick.
Fiora plugged the stick into the slot on her terminal and read the orders to herself. “Your orders are surprisingly vague, why are you here Commander? Fleet rarely sends an officer of your rank as a simple attaché.” She questioned.
“Commander I am here to provide you with tactical support and intelligence that were too sensitive to transmit via astropath from fleet command. We believe that the heretics have discovered a weapon of immense power beneath the surface of Sophano Secudus that they are close to activating and your Lightning fighters and Avengers are our best chance of destroying it before it becomes operational.”
“What kind of weapon?” Fiora said curiously.
“If you’ll allow me I’d like to brief the group, I have the mission parameters prepared.”
“By all means.” Fiora said coolly.
They crossed the hall to the briefing room, a young ensign called attention on deck and all the pilots and weapons officers stood to.
“At ease” Fiora said, waiting for the group to take their seats. “Please give your full attention to Commander DuGrae for this mission briefing.”
“Good morning.” She began, “I will be flying in support of your upcoming sortie to the surface launching in 12 hours. What I am about to brief you on is of the utmost confidence and is not to be spoken of outside this room.” She paused to watch the pilots’ reactions.
Seeming to be satisfied with the group’s demeanor, she continued “We have identified an excavation site on the surface where the heretics have unearthed an ancient battle barge. We believe this to be a Titan-Barge.” She watched as eyes widened across the room and murmurs spread.”
“Pipe down!” Fiora bellowed, immediately silencing the group “And listen up! This could save your hide down in the atmosphere so don’t get distracted.” The group focused as DuGrae continued and activated a projector screen at the front of the briefing room.
“The site is approximately 5 kilometres long and 1.5 kilometres wide, according to the oldest records we could find, of which there are few, this vessel would have transported no less than three Reaver class titans. The vessel looks to have been scuttled on this planet long before human habitation and there is no telling what is still onboard and recoverable. The heretic forces of the planet led by - Allking Rashema the Stout - have secured this location and fortified the area with captured anti-air artillery and gun emplacements.”
“Our mission will be first to fly in low underneath their auspex scanners with our Avenger squadron and knock out their air defenses. Once the air defenses are down, the Thunderbolts move in with guided missiles and cripple the remaining ground forces and establish air superiority – we have intel that the heretics may have acquired and modified some landers with weapons so be prepared to take them out if they get off the ground.”
“Once the site is secured from the air, we’ll escort the Marauder Bombers from the territorials to level the site. Our attack will kick off the ground forces armored assault on Hadjisheim from the opposite side of the site. The rest of the details are in your mission packets under your seats, study them here – they are not to be taken from this room. Be ready to launch at 2000hrs ship’s time, any questions?”
Seeing no hands raised, Fiora called attention and dismissed the group, watching as they studied their mission packets.
Speaking to DuGrae directly, she asked “How long have they been excavating this site?”
Dugrae answered “It was a tightly kept secret for years, billed by the planetary government as a ‘cultural archaeological site’; we only recently became aware of its true nature.”
“So you have informants on the ground?” Fiora said.
DuGrae opened her mouth and then closed it, looking at Fiora quizzically. “They told me you were a sharp one.” She said. “Not the typical blunt object we find so common in our officer corps.”
“I am observant like any good commander.” Fiora brushed off the compliment “Everything else is by the Emperor’s good grace.” She said piously, feeling the aquila at her neck beneath her uniform.
“Ah, faith in the Emperor will serve you well Commander. I am sure we will all need that soon enough.” DuGrae mused.
“I have faith, both in the Emperor and my command, we will succeed in our purpose here. I assume you will fly the mission with us?” Fiora asked, spying her augmetics behind her right ear and the bio-mechanical interfaces inlayed into her hands.
“I will be flying in an observation and command & control function only in support of you in my Fury Interceptor, you still give the orders Commander.” She assured her.
“Good.” Fiora said. “I had better get some rest and make my prayers and check in with the tech adepts on the flight deck to ensure our machine spirits are feeling helpful today.”
DuGrae smirked “I’d better do the same, I’ll check my own equipment if you don’t mind.”
“By all means Commander.” Fiora said.
​
“Very well, I’ll see you on the flight deck.” DuGrae said as she turned and left the room.
Fiora watched after her with a knowing look, DuGrae was more than just a fellow Naval Officer, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it but it was all just too much for one person to know, she doubted even the Captain of the Lord Ordamros had this briefing. She paused to order LT Graves to collect all the mission packets and place them in the incinerator once the crew had studied them and left to make her preparations for the mission.
Fiora awoke to her alarm at 1800hrs ships time, she pulled on her tan flight suit over a black bodyglove that would keep her warm and fight the g-forces when maneuvering in her Voss Pattern Lighting Strike Fighter. She strapped on her flight harness, and slotted in her survival knife to its sheath and holstered her laspistol on her chest. She grabbed her helmet and gloves from the shelf in her quarters and tucked her aquila into her flight suit.
On the flight deck, the squadrons stood in formation in full gear, graves called attention and the squadron commanders reverberated the command. All told there were two dozen aircraft in her wing. It was evenly split between Avenger strike fighters with their underslung Avenger Bolt Cannon that fired mass-reactive bolt rounds at an incredible rate paired with twin heavy lascannons and the Thunderbolt strike fighter with nose mounted autocannons and lascannons, as well as Hellstrike missiles on the wing hardpoints.
Her own craft, the Voss Lighting painted in the grey and black of her Wolfpack squadron, sat menacingly on the deck, its forward lascannons jutting out of the fuselage and its angled wings loaded up with six Hellstrike missiles.
Fiora looked at her command, studied the faces of her airmen, she had no inkling of what was about to come and neither did they; still she projected an aura of supreme confidence and poise even though she was short stature and slight of build with dark brown hair kept short and pulled back from her face. Her airmen respected her, she had led them through over 50 sorties and had lost only three aircraft, as far as percentages go she was considered lucky in the Imperial Navy – no one had that good of a survival record. Before she took command she had been lucky to escape several missions as a junior officer flight the outdated Lightning fighters against planetary rebels with more advanced stolen equipment and strange alien craft that disintegrated Imperial aircraft with such immense power that there wasn’t even wreckage left to hit the ground. She had survived impossibly through all of it, and now she was in command before hitting 35 years standard, it had taken many sacrifices – but all in the name of serving something greater than herself; she had forgone her parent’s desires for her – forsaken her duties as a child of the Aristocracy to pursue her career in the Navy, forgone any semblance of a ‘normal’ life to fly among the stars and soar above unfamiliar lands.
Fiora called to her Command, “Wolfpack! What is your mission?”
“HUNT!” the response came.
“Mount up!” Fiora yelled.
Her crew broke ranks and ran to their aircraft, Fiora watched as the flight deck crew began guiding the craft to the launch tube that ran fore and aft of the great carrier like a huge pipe with massive airlock doors that clamped shut and hissed with every aircraft launch. Within minutes it was her turn to launch, she spotted DuGrae’s Fury Interceptor in the launch queue – the long black craft sported a warp translation capable drive and complete Gellar Field generator, astropath and navigator suite. The craft sported two each of underslung lascannons and autocannons along with 4 Storm Eagle missiles modified and modular for both void combat and atmospheric air-to-air and air-to-surface roles. The starcraft represented the pinnacle of Imperial technology rolled into one. It occurred to Fiora that this was the most peculiar thing about DuGrae, she must be someone high up in Naval Intelligence to rate such a craft, especially one so small and warp capable to boot, there was only one organization she could think of that would have access to that kind of technology but that was based on pure speculation and rumor. She caught DuGrae’s eye through the cockpit ceramo-glass and gave her a short salute which was returned. Fiora buckled on her helmet and lowered her visor, engaging her flight suit’s atmosphere and her helmet’s oxygen supply attached to her seat. She check her restraint harness and then ran through her preflight checklist, quickly flipping switches and starting up her onboard cogitators and auspex arrays, she checked her coms:
“Wolf Leader to Ordamros control, how do you read me, over?”
“Ordamros control, we read you loud and clear, over.”
“Request permission to launch, over.”
“Launch tube is clear, you are cleared to launch Harpy – happy hunting.” Control responded using Fiora’s callsign.
The tow servitor moved her into the launch zone, and the doors clamped shut behind her – she heard the hiss as the atmosphere began to vent from the launch chamber.
She pressed the ignition on her control panel and felt the familiar rumble of the turbine cranking up beneath her feet turning from a low rumble to a high pitch whine and then a howl as the combustible gases began feeding into the machine.
She heard control in her helmet “Releasing gravity in three, two… gravity free.” the operator said as she felt her craft slowly lift off the deck. She hit the lever to retract her landing gear and heard the servos wind them back into place.
Control continued “Launching in five, four, three, two… Launch, Launch, Launch.” As klaxons blazed and yellow hazard lights spun in the launch chamber the launch bay doors opened to the atmosphere and Fiora gunned the throttle – delighting in the throaty roar of the powerful engine and quickly accelerating out of the launch tube guided straight out the past the mighty prow of the carrier by unseen magnetic forces. She burst into the void, totally in her element, and rendezvoused with the attack wing holding at low orbit. DuGrae’s fury followed closely behind her. Fiora was watching her scope and taking roll call prior to starting the descent into atmosphere when DuGrae’s ship fell off her auspex scanner, she hailed her on comms.
“Raptor, I’ve lost your ship’s signature, how copy?” She said using DuGrae’s callsign.
“Copy your last Harpy, I’m still here on your six, I have activated my ship’s cloaking suite, you won’t see me and neither will the heretics, I’ll be scouting ahead to relay targeting data via our data tethers, over.”
A cloaking suite? Fiora wondered, now she was certain this woman wasn’t just some Naval Intelligence attaché; she was important, and she was here to make sure that this mission was completed.
“Copy your last Raptor, Harpy out.”
“Reaper, are we ready?” Fiora commed Graves with his callsign
“All units present and accounted for Harpy.” Graves responded.
“Lets Hunt.” Fiora chimed back as she took the lead and began the descent into the atmosphere.
Her squadron descended through the upper atmosphere, the heat of entry causing a small bead of sweat on Fiora’s brow, the craft punched through it and began atmospheric flight – gliding through high cloud layers to the lower atmosphere below. The land look idyllic from this height, the edge of the inland freshwater sea meeting the cliffs and beaches and branching out into low farmlands dotted with small farmhouses and barns. This was a feudal world, far different from large hive worlds or fortress worlds, much of the advanced technology of the Imperium was forbidden here as the populace was still very backward and had not fully accepted the Imperial Creed, cleaving to their ancestral heretical beliefs. They were not backward for lack of trying, the Imperial Ecclesiarchy had been ministering to the people of this world for years, but all had been for naught as the Allking had since fallen to heresy and enlisted the services of mutants and other heretics in open rebellion against the Imperium of Man.
Fiora knew from her command level secret briefings, recognizing the Emperor as god-king and refusing his tithe was the least among the Allking’s sins – he had attempted to murder a servant of the Emperor himself, an Inquisitor no less – he had failed in the attempt but it was now clear that there was no redemption for the people of Sophano Secundus, purgation was the kindest punishment as far as Fiora was concerned. She had seen what was beyond purgation, only once, as a lowly Valkyrie pilot on her first tour after flight school, a strange sickness had overtaken a frontier world, after attempts to cure the infection failed and the population became belligerent from the planetary quarantine a single black ship arrived from warp as she watched from her receding carrier. The ship launched a single projectile at least half a kilometer long, the flash on impact with the planet was tremendous, it blew clouds of ash across the entire planet inside of hours and then it all ignited in a holocaust like she had never seen before, and hope she’d never see again.
Fiora’s squadron quickly came into sensor range of the excavation site, shortly thereafter she began receiving the targeting data on the sight. Several Hydra self-propelled anti-aircraft guns as well as a few Manticore loaded out with surface to air missiles were present on the scans. There were also gun emplacements with heavy stubbers, a few autocannons, and multi-lasers evident from the scan. Fiora quickly called out targeting assignments to the Avenger Squadron, receiving confirmations across the board.
“Raptor, can you scramble the targeting on those Manticores long enough for the Avengers to make their attack run, over?” Fiora asked DuGrae, expecting to know the answer.
“Copy that Wolfpack Leader, over.” DuGrae responded shortly, Fiora took that as a yes, though it sounded like DuGrae was getting less amused with Fiora’s insights. Fiora made a mental note to back off on the questions, she dreaded any visits from the Officio Prefectus; Commissars were unsettling to be around to say the least.
​
“Wolfpack 1, begin attack run, Wolfpack 2 assume high cover and scan for any enemy aircraft.” Fiora ordered as she studied her display of the excavation site. It truly was massive, practically an entire hive city in length and breadth and she could tell there was still more buried beneath the earth. She marked several locations for bomb strikes from the marauders to hit and sent it via tight beam comms to terrestrial control. She then joined formation with the Avengers and dropped low, passing 10,000ft then 5,000ft, then 1,000ft and soon enough the squadron was skimming the treetops on the approach through a shallow valley toward the north of the capital city and the excavation site in the foothills. The ships buzzed along disturbing cattle grazing in a pasture and causing some draft animal led carts to panic on dirt roads below, this really was quite the backwater – Fiora thought to herself. The squadron buzzed through the valley, the pilots adeptly maneuvering their craft in formation, Fiora saw the valley come to and end at the foothills and knew just beyond line of sight to her port side would be the excavation site. She steeled herself and prepared for the rush of battle.
The Avenger Squadron broke out past the hills and mountains and out onto scrub plains, getting line of sight onto the excavation of the ancient and enormous vessel. Within seconds the opening pop of flak cannons and the thud of heavy bolters and stubbers began to reverberate off the hills. Fiora ordered her squadron to maximum speed, they were a blur as they closed the distance and prepared to open fire. They came into weapons range and Fiora called weapons free, fire at will.
Heavy bolter cannons and lascannon fire erupted from the screaming aircraft filling the air with superheated lascannon energy bolts that thudded into armored personnel carriers, gun emplacements, and several found their marks onto defending Hydras. The initial barrage was so fast and ferocious that the firepower of the defenders was immediately cut in half. Just before breaking off to make a second attack run Fiora launched two of her hellfire missiles, scoring a hit on an enemy Chimera and blowing up an already crippled Manticore. She saw as enemy footsoldiers on the ground opened up with harmless fire from crudely made lasguns and autoguns, the small arms plinked off the tough ceramite of her squadron. She saw one of the autocannon emplacements get off a lucky shot on an Avenger, causing a black trail from one of its engines – Fiora ordered the pilot to return to the terrestrial base for repairs planetside and regroup with the carrier later. She turned for her second attack run.
As the Avengers approached for their second run, she caught several new signatures on her scanner coming over a nearby hill, she turned to look and saw a half dozen Aquila Landers and a couple old model Valkyries loaded with missiles and heading straight for them. She was about to order her Squadron to break off and take evasive maneuvers when suddenly the enemy squadron was impacted from a high angle by multiple missiles launched from the overwatching Thunderbolt fighters. Autocannon and lascannon volleys eviscerated the remaining aircraft that rained down fiery debris from the sky like some kind of macabre confetti. Fiora sent a quick thanks to Graves leading the Thunderbolts and continued with her assault. The Avengers made quick work of the remaining defensive positions and the foot soldiers, clad in the local hodgepodge of crude metal armor mixed with scavenged militarum gear now marked with odd symbols and adorned with ornate and grisly decorations of bones and odd spikes that jutted out at odd angles. Fiora knew there was no understanding these heretics, there was only one solution she thought as she targeted a gun emplacement with a hellstrike and fired, her cogitator confirming a positive impacted. The emplacement disappeared in a conflagration that incinerated the crew manning it, men on fire stumbled and trip over low walls, sandbags, and each other. God-Emperor treat them fairly during their judgement, Fiora thought to herself as she peeled her Lighting to a higher overwatch position and called to the Marauders circling out of engagement range to make their bombing run. She circled up higher to meet the bombers with the Thunderbolts and provide them cover while they made their bombing run.
The Marauders approached the site, got their bomb sights on target and dropped enough ordinance to level a hive city. One, two, three… a dozen huge guided bombs with adamantium tips whistled toward the great old beast that was the titan barge. The bombs punched into the hull and penetrated deeply into the recesses of the vessel almost in a neat line along the center of the enormous vessel. A short delay thereafter and the explosions ripped open the craft from the inside, cracking open the ship like a ribcage from stem to stern, erupting with molten metal, ash and shrapnel raining down. Any defenders left after that began to flee as smoke poured from the excavation site and shrouded the ship obscuring it from view.
Fiora circled from high altitude with her squadron observing the wreckage, she flipped her visor down and cycled through visual filters to get a look through the smoke. Suddenly she caught a flare of heat in her vision, first a small spark she mistook as a fire caused by the bombing, then a huge signature flared to life and soon after a second signature lit up toward the opposite end of the barge. Energy beams lanced out from inside of the ship blue with heat and immediately destroyed two of her Thunderbolt fighters, knocking them out of the sky. Missiles streaked out of the ship and knocked out another Avenger.
“Break off, break off!” Fiora yelled “Take evasive maneuvers and deploy countermeasures! Avengers regroup on me for an attack run, Thunderbolts attack from Altitude, Marauders, provide fire support with your lascannon turrets from up high!”
Her airmen followed her orders without hesitation giving their acknowledgement. Meanwhile the two Ravager-class titans, glowing with unholy power stomped from the wreckage of the titan barge – their armor smoking and Ion Shields flaring against the fires around them. Their bright red optics burning hellishly in their mechanical heads. Lascannon rounds thumped into the one in front of Fiora, clad in burnt red armor panels, from the high up Marauders, impacting the titan’s Ion shield and causing know damage. The Massive war machine leveled its huge gatling laser and gatling cannon at the Marauders and began to fire. The aircraft withered under the blaze of intense fire, one then two are blow from the sky, two more break off and then are raked by the cannon fire, another sprouts a tail of flame and it begins to plummet to the ground. Fiora saw no crew bail out. The remaining Marauders try to gain altitude and escape the barrage, the titan pauses and unleashes a salvo of missiles from the pod on top of its carapace, catching the aircraft before they can break range with the demon engine.
“All units focus all remaining ordinance on the red titan!” Fiora ordered, fighting back the panic in her voice and pushing down a feeling of utter helplessness before such raw power. Her remaining Avengers wheeled on the towering machine and opened up with everything they had. As the Avenger’s gatling bolters whirred and berated the Ion Shields surrounding the beast, Fiora caught a faint glimmer in the shield as a bolt round broke through – she signaled the Thunderbolts with remaining missiles to launch at the titan and watch the first one impact the shield, then the second one streaked through and caught the beast full in the chest, then three, four, five missiles streaked in from various angles, one catching the machine in the connective area between armor plates and the head containing various sensors. Fiora swore she saw the eyes flicker and she lined up her own attack run, square at the monstrous war machine. She sped toward the murderous titan from behind it and unloaded every charge she could muster from her lascannons, blasting chunks of molten metal from the now burning machine. At the last possible moment she launched all her remaining missiles, dropped to the deck and throttled up the Lightning to top speed, feeling the g-forces suck her back into her seat as she screamed toward and through the gap in the titan’s legs as it was impacted by her missiles, the beast staggered from the impact, must have picked up Fiora on its sensors sending one final bolt of energy from its gatling laser which caught the edge of Fiora’s wing destroying some flight surfaces and forcing her to make quick adjustments to her flaps and slow down in order to prevent the lightning from tipping over and loosing control. She activated the fire suppression system in the wing and managed to put the fire out, she was still and could still flying and could still carry on the fight as the red titan’s eyes went bright red and the central core of the monstrosity went out of control blowing out the chest of the great machine and reducing the interior to complete slag in moments. Almost in slow motion, the chaos titan fell forward as it liquefied from the heat of the uncontrolled nuclear fire in its corrupted core and slammed into the ground its eyes going black.
“All units report in.” Fiora said breathlessly.
“Commander! Permission to fall back!” the response came from a near frantic Reaper, “We can’t continue this fight, were down to two Avengers and two Thunderbolts including me -AAAAHHGHH *EXPLOSION* *STATIC*…” Reaper screamed as the commlink went dead. Fiora turned to see the giant black Ravager as it moved with surprising agility through the smoke and swatted Reaper’s Thunderbolt out of the air with a huge, clawed fist.
“Do not fall back!” Fiora heard the crackle on the commlink, “This abomination cannot be allowed to leave here and spread corruption! It must be destroyed now by any means!”
Fiora was in a daze, she didn’t even recognize the voice at the other end of the commlink. She was down to a fraction of her command within hours, a mere three aircraft remained of the two dozen she started the mission with, so many good pilots – by the God Emperor this carnage must end, she thought as she fought off the despair.
“Regroup on me!” she commanded her remaining fighters. “Keep your distance, its faster than it looks!” she said as she saw the titan charge up the cannon on its right arm.
She adjusted her controls and increased her speed. Fiora fired round after round of lascannon fire into the titan desperately, seeing them caught by the ion shield and dissipated. The remaining Avengers opened up with their bolt cannons and spit hundreds of mass reactive rounds into the shielding, the Thunderbolt had one hellstrike missile left and let it fly while firing away with its remaining autocannon rounds and lascannons. The hellstrike missile streaked toward the titan and impacted the shield, detonating without doing any damage to the Ravager.
The Ravager opened up with its melta cannon and swept it across the attacking aircraft, Fiora saw it coming and her faster craft dodged out of the way. The two Avengers were not so lucky, they took the full force of the beam before they could react and were destroyed in a second. The titan caught the wing of the last thunderbolt with its melta cannon, as the aircraft spun wildly out of control toward the titan it struck out with its clawed fist and crushed the craft to the ground. The titan then rounded on Fiora’s Lightning and sent out tracer fire from heavy bolters and launched a missile from its back mount missile pod. The missile streaked toward Fiora, she had no way of dodging, the Lightning was damaged and slowing down, she closed her eyes and sent a silent prayer to the god-emperor.
Suddenly, the titan was struck from behind, one, two, three storm eagle missiles impacted the titan from behind, the forth intercepted the missile meant for her moments before impact. It was DuGrae, swooping down from high altitude and pounding away with the lascannons on her Fury Interceptor.
“Harpy, get back in the fight!” She yelled through the commlink “Are your weapons still operational?”
“Yes,” Fiora responded, “I still have both my lascannons operational.”
“Good.” said DuGrae, “I need you to help me soften up this abomination. We’ve just knocked down its Ion Shield, we have to act quickly before it recharges.”
“Okay, I‘m with you.” Fiora responded, running a quick diagnostic on her weapons systems to be certain.
“Allright, on me then!” DuGrae said as they both wheeled back to face death incarnate.
The two craft sped toward the reeling titan, still smoking from the hits by the storm eagles. Fiora’s sensor panel flared and her targeting alerts blared.
“Its charging its weapon!” Fiora commed to DuGrae
“Perfect,” DuGrae said calmly “That means it isn’t charging the Ion Shield. On my mark, open fire.”
Fiora acknowledged and focused on her targeting matrix.
“Ready…” DuGrae drew it out as they raced toward the titan again “Fire!” she yelled as they passed maximum effective range with the lascannons.
Fiora and DuGrae fired volley after volley of lascannon into the titan, draining their capacitors. The titan reeled from the hits, without the Ion Shield it was just a big walking tank, Fiora thought. The titan’s face plate was shorn off by a lascannon round revealing a hellish visage of demonic corruption beneath it, an actual huge biological eye stared out unblinkingly from the massive machine as spike tentacles uncurled from a disgusting maw full of sharp teeth. The creature within the great machine, howled, screeched, and bellowed all at the same time at the offending aircraft in seeming pain.
“By the Emperor!” Fiora exclaimed as she fired more lascannon rounds into the vile creature until her capacitors were exhausted and she broke off the attack run. As she and DuGrae broke off, the titan-creature shrieked, and unleashed the melta cannon. Fiora dodged as best she could rolling out of the path of the intense beam, but the beam caught a glacing blow on Dugrae’s Fury, hitting the vessel amidships and scoring a deep gash in the side of the fuelselage.
“Damn!” DuGrae exclaimed. “The beast hit our capacitors, I can’t recharge my lascannons.”
“I can still fight!” Fiora exclaimed, “My weapons are still online.”
“I can see your lascannons are still red hot from that last run” DuGrae observed “I’d be surprised if you got one round off before your barrels burst, and that won’t do. You’re a good pilot Harpy, we need you to stay in the fight. The Emperor needs you.”
“I won’t leave you and we can’t leave that monstrosity to reach the city and attack our main force, they don’t have the kind of armament needed to deal with this thing, they’ll be slaughtered!” Fiora replied.
“I am afraid this is going to be an order Lieutenant Commander, I order you to return to terrestrial base for repairs immediately. You’re not going to disobey a direct order from a superior officer are you? I need you to get clear, I have only one last trick left. Unfortunately, this will be my last mission. It was an honor flying with you Harpy. God-Emperor be with you. Now go!”
​
Fighting back a lone tear beneath her flight visor Fiora, turned her Lighting toward the beacon marking the forward operating base established by the ground forces from Treyptos. She watched as DuGrae banked and turned once again to face the behemoth.
DuGrae quickly sent off a tight beam communication to an orbital relay containing all of her mission data and hoped it made it back to the Fortress at Nemesis Tessera, she trusted they would be able to put together the pieces to finish the job. She unplugged her augmetics from the comms array after downloading, encrypting, and sending all the relevant data from her implant – it all took only moments with the high speed borderline heretical machine spirits that helped run the Inquisitorial Fury Interceptor, it’s the only way the small ship could translate into warp with just herself and her navigator in control. She glanced back at the psyker in his station, he was more augmetics than man at this point; helped him keep his sanity through all the warp translations, she thought.
“Gerard.” She said.
“Yes, Lydia.” He answered mechanically.
“This is going to be it for us. End of the road.” DuGrae explained.
“Oh joy.” He said flatly “You mean I won’t have to continually tear holes in space and time to pass through the immaterium and risk spontaneously mutating into a chaos beast?”, it was hard to tell with all the augmetics to his voice, but that level of sarcasm was impossible to miss.
“Yeah, I’ll miss your cheery disposition.” She said sardonically. “Unfortunately, I need you to do it for us one last time. I am going to head straight for the titan and on my mark I want you to activate the warp core.” DuGrae said without emotion.
“I am assuming you realize what that will do to us while on the surface of the planet?” Gerard queried rhetorically.
“Yes, I am aware, unfortunately I don’t see any other way.” She said finally.
“Very well.” Gerard said simply “It’s been a pleasure.”
“Likewise.” DuGrae said.
“Really?” Gerard asked.
“No, not really, you complained entirely too much for a half-lobotomized servitor for my taste.” DuGrae quipped.
“Awwwww…” Gerard said, “I will miss our conversations.’
“On my mark, activate the warp core.” DuGrae commanded.
“Acknowledged.” Gerard stated, for the first time, without any sarcastic remarks.
DuGrae completed her long turn back toward the titan who had now begun to cross open ground away from the excavation site and started pounding toward the capital and the Militarum column heading toward the city to commence the purgation. She locked the autopilot targeting to heart of the deamon engine’s core signature and punched the engines to maximum. The Fury soared toward the demonic horror encased within the war machine, increasing its velocity with every passing second. The machine’s sensors picked up her signature, her cloaking suite was out since that glancing blow, but it wasn’t going to matter. Lucky for her, this titan was not equipped with a full complement of missiles, all it had now were a few pintle mounted heavy bolters and the enormous melta cannon which began charging. The heavy bolters were fairly short ranged but opened up anyway on the rapidly approaching craft, the bolter rounds flying wild and wide as the Fury sped towards her target. The range closed… 1000 meters, 500 meters, 100 meters:
“Mark!” DuGrae yelled.
​
Gerard activated the warp core and everything went black.
From a distance, it appeared that light and matter bent inward on itself, within the planetary gravity the warp core was for all intents and purposes a localized black hole that had the effect of a fusion bomb. A hole was ripped into the immaterium for a millisecond; the bubble of warp energies was contained within the Fury’s Gellar field which activated simultaneously. Both the Fury and the Ravager were engulfed in the bubble of roiling light and smoke and explosions, and suddenly the bubble imploded and was gone, leaving a perfectly spherical smoking crater where the Fury had been and the titan had stood. Now there was no longer a trace of either.
Fiora saw the flash of light in the rearview of her fighter. She was jealous. She dreaded her return to the base and the Lord Ordamros as the sole survivor of the fated mission, she regretted not dying herself for the glory of the Emperor, the highest honor she could hope achieve. She knew the debriefing’s to come and the inquires… and probably a visit from the officio prefectus. She just had to be lucky, she thought to herself.

"…cars and trucks in which human drivers are never required to take control to safely operate the vehicle. Also known as autonomous or ‘driverless’ cars, they combine sensors and software to control, navigate, and drive the vehicle."
—Union of Concern Scientists, USA (USCUSA)
Is this what the future of trucking looks like?
For a few years, electric trucks were mainly being worked on by startup companies, while the large tech companies were mostly silent on the issue. This all changed around 2017. Tesla unveiled its all-electric autonomous truck in 2017 and the early customers of this product are Walmart, UPS and PepsiCo. Then, Daimler unveiled the electric siblings of their most popular trucks, Cascadia and M2 as eCascadia and eM2 in 2018. At the ACT Expo in 2018, Roger Nielson, the CEO of Daimler Trucks, said that the time has come to contemplate the post-internal combustion engine. The production of Daimler electric trucks will begin in 2021. In April 2019, the Nikola Motor Company, a tech startup unveiled its semi-truck powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Anheuser Busch, a beer making company has planned to buy 800 units of Nikola’s hydrogen fuel powered semi-truck.
Uber has also acquired a startup company, Otto which is working on autonomous trucks. In October, 2018 Otto completed the first shipment in the world from a self-driven truck. The cargo hauled by it contained 51,744 cans of Budweiser.
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Any technological advancement requires large investments. According to a report from CB Insights, $2 billion has been invested in startup trucking companies as of 21st May, 2019. The investments in tech startups jumped a huge leap from $114 million in 2014 to $3.6 billion in 2018. The growing interest in the future of trucking has increased the scale of investments. The costs of electric trucks are quite higher than that of a diesel truck. Nielson went on to say that the business scenario at present will not allow a sane fleet operator to buy an electric truck. The industry needs to find ways to carry on research and make batteries that are half the current size and price. Also, it must double the energy density. In the meantime, partnerships and grants can make production of electric trucks possible.
The 6 major technologies that may impact the future of trucking are:
Electric Trucks
Autonomous Vehicles
Platooning
Shipper Platforms
Blockchain Trucking
Artificial Intelligence

Electric Trucks - Future

The depletion of the conventional sources of energy have made researchers seek alternative sources to power vehicles. Additionally, vehicles need to be designed and structured in such a way that is compatible with alternative sources of energy. Thus, conservation of nature has been a driving concern behind a lof of the recent innovations.
Since trucks were first used in the late nineteenth century, they have come a long way. The future seems quite exciting as truck manufacturing companies are aiming to build electronic and autonomous trucks. Trucking had altered the way America did business and a lot is set to change in the coming years as well. With Tesla, Volvo, Daimler and other truck giants about to launch electric trucks in a few years, the future of trucking never seemed so promising and exciting.

A Brief History of Electric Trucks

The first crude yet viable electric motor which could power a tiny car was built by ÁnyosJedik, a Hungarian priest in 1827. 28% of vehicles running on American roads in 1900 was actually powered by electricity. Milburn electrics was the vehicle used by President Woodrow Wilson and his team of secret service agents to travel around Washington, DC. Once charged, the vehicle could travel a distance of approximately 60-70 miles. Though, initially electric vehicles did not have rechargeable batteries. The first electric carriage was invented somewhere around 1832-1839 in Scotland by Robert Anderson. It ran on primary cells which were non-rechargeable. The nickel-iron battery was one of the kinds of rechargeable batteries.
Of the many companies that produced and sold electrical vehicles, Baker Electric, Detroit Electric and Columbia Electric were quite notable.

Why did electric vehicles lose their prominence?

Cars powered by internal combustion became cheaper. Also large petroleum reserves were found in Oklahoma, California and Texas. Additionally, roads outside urban areas began to improve. Due to the availability of better roads, cars with internal combustion engines became a more popular choice.
In 1913, Henry Ford introduced a line of gasoline-powered vehicles. These vehicles were mass produced which lowered the price. Gasoline vehicles became more and more popular. The electrical vehicles began to lose ground, only to come back with a bang after nearly a century.

Why do Electric vehicles seem like a promising option in the present day?

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There are a number of reasons behind the growing popularity of electric vehicles:

Can use electricity generated by non-conventional sources

Electrical vehicles need electricity to recharge batteries. Apart from fossil fuels, this electricity can also be generated from renewable sources like solar, wind and tidal energy.

Leaking oil from conventional engines

The conventional engine may leak oil. If not detected in time, this can lead to damages. Electric vehicles do not have this fear as they run on rechargeable batteries.

Regenerative braking

Regenerative braking is one of the key advantages of plug-in or hybrid electric vehicles. In a hybrid vehicle a conventional way of propulsion is often merged with an electric one. This braking system helps an electric vehicle gain back the kinetic energy which is usually lost as heat during friction braking. This recovered kinetic energy can be stored in the vehicle’s battery as electricity and give a small recharge in that way.

A step towards autonomous driving

It is an easier integration for full self-driving capabilities to happen with an electric vehicle rather than a traditional engine.

Less noise while operating

Vehicles that run on electricity cause less noise in comparison to a combustion engine. Emitting less noise means that a truck can run in suburban areas at night without causing any disturbance.

Fewer service and maintenance needs

Electric vehicles have fewer service and maintenance needs. This is because there are 30% fewer movable parts as compared to a conventional vehicle with a combustible engine.

No tailpipe emissions

As electric vehicles do not run on conventional sources of energy like fossil fuels, there is no smoke emission. Hence, it can be driven in environmental zones as well.

Energy efficient

As electric trucks use rechargeable batteries to function, the energy consumption of the truck is maximized.

Types of Electric Vehicles available

Electric vehicles can recharge batteries from a number of energy sources:

• Fossil fuel
• Nuclear energy
• Solar energy
• Wind energy
• Tidal energy

Based on the type of energy used, electric trucks can be classified into four categories:

• HEV or Hybrid Electric Vehicle
• PHEV or Plug-in Electric Vehicle
• BEV or Battery Electric Vehicle
• FHEV or Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle

HEV or Hybrid Electric Vehicle

Instead of using only a traditional engine, a HEV or Hybrid Electric Vehicle, adds to the engine an electrical option. By using regenerative brakes, HEVs convert kinetic energy into electric energy as mentioned above. These vehicles use both electric energy and use gas or diesel to operate.

PHEV or Plug-in Electric Vehicle

A hybrid electric vehicle which has a battery that has the option of being recharged by plugging it into an external source of energy is called PHEV or Plug-in Electric Vehicle. These vehicles use electricity for short distances. When the battery is over, the driver can switch over to the conventional combustion engine. This type of vehicle allows the driver flexibility that ensures high fuel and energy utilization. The use of electric energy to run the vehicle saves fuel costs. The emissions from the tailpipe are also minimized.

BEV or Battery Electric Vehicle

This type of vehicle uses chemical energy stored in its rechargeable batteries. This is a pure electric vehicle. Being battery operated, BEV vehicles do not have a combustion engine. Instead, it uses electric motors along with motor controllers.

FHEV or Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle

This type of vehiclehas an electric motor, that is recharged by the chemical reaction of oxygen and hydrogen. It is true that some emissions are created while the hydrogen is produced for the fuel cells. However, water is the only waste product while an FHEV is driven.

Autonomous Vehicles

The advancement of electrical vehicles in recent years calls for another futuristic feature in trucking: autonomous driving. The concept of autonomous driving began with the notion of ‘driver assistance’ or ‘assisted driving’. It aims to have completely driverless vehicles or a vehicle where the people inside are passengers. Undoubtedly, the concept of autonomous driving demands an advanced technology with superior sensors. P C Mag has defined an autonomous car as, “A computer-controlled car that drives itself.” Autonomous trucks can save a lot of money too. Morgan Stanley estimates that if American trucks are made autonomous, $168 billion can be saved each year. Though, we are still many years away from full autonomous driving as of now. Autonomous driving has been set to five stages. The fifth stage is considered the most technically and mechanically advanced one:
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Stage 0 – No Automation

Vehicles controlled by human drivers and without any sort of support from computerized driver assistance system is considered stage 0 or ‘No Automation’.

Stage 1 – Driver Assistance

Vehicles in ‘Driver assistance’ level or stage 1 are jointly controlled by the driver and a computerized automated system. There are a number of ways in which this system can work. A driver usually always controls the steering, while the automated system may have certain control over the brakes and speed of the vehicle when required. At times the engine power is controlled by the automated system which ensures that the vehicle can maintain a specific speed. At times parking assistance is also available with this automated system. Here, the speed of the vehicle is controlled manually while the steering is done automatically. However, the driver has to be alert and ready to take up the control if any problem arises. This type of driving is also called ‘hands on’ driving.

Stage 2 – Partly Automated Driving

In stage 2 or the ‘Partly Automated Driving’ level, the driver monitors the driving process while it is conducted by the automated system. If in any situation or condition, the automated system cannot do its job or fails to respond, the driver has to take up manual controls immediately. This stage is at times called ‘hands off’. In this stage it is mandatory for the driver to keep hands on the steering wheel at all times. This mandate is for safety purposes. Having the driver constantly holding the steering wheel means that immediate manual control of the vehicle can be taken up during any situation.

Stage 3 – Highly Automated Driving

The ‘Highly Automated Driving’ level is commonly called ‘eyes off’ level. This means that the driver is not required to constantly monitor the driving or look at the road ahead. The automated system will be able to perform on its own and without any human interference. If any problem occurs, automatically the emergency brakes are applied. Though the driver can usually do personal work while the vehicle is on the road, during adverse or critical conditions human intervention may be required. These situations will be specified by the manufacturer before-hand.

Stage 4- Fully Automated Driving

In the ‘Fully Automated Driving’ the human driver is allowed to take their ‘mind off’ in most of the situations. The driver may sleep or do other work in other part of the vehicle as the vehicle is capable to look after its own safety. This type of vehicle is capable of completing the journey and park itself. However, during traffic jams (which falls under ‘special circumstances’ category) or tight-spaced areas, the vehicle has to be operated by a human driver.

Stage 5- Full Automation

In a vehicle having ‘Full Automation’, the steering wheel is optional. Hence, it does not require any human intervention for any aspect related to driving. Through this type of vehicle, full automation is achieved.

What is our present stage in Truck automation?

Volvo’s VNL and Pleton’s Platooning System are examples of trucks that are available in the trucking market today that have Stage 1 automation. Under the Stage 2 automated truck category, the new 2020 Cascadia will be the first truck in Northern America according to Freightliner. It will begin production from July, 2019. Embark and Starsky Robotics are the two other Stage 2 automated trucks that will be available in the future but at present are in pre-commercial stage. Freightliner Inspiration and Uber Otto are trucks that fulfill the criteria of the Stage 3 automation. However, at present they are only available in prototype retrofits. The Freightliner Inspiration was the first automated truck to be licensed to operate on the highways of the country back in 2015.
At the CES electronics show in Las Vegas on 7th January, 2019, Daimler trucks announced that it will invest more than half a billion dollars and create 200 new jobs in its global endeavor to launch Stage 4 or highly automated trucks in about 10 years. The switch from Stage 2 to Stage 4 is natural and hence the step of conditional automation is being skipped as according to Daimler, conditional automation will not provide any extra advantage to the truck drivers. In the 3rd stage of automated driving, drivers can go about doing other work but have to take immediate control if the system cannot tackle the situation. The mental and physical switch from leisure to prompt action may not be as quick as required thus, it is judicious to skip the Stage 3 altogether. Additionally, Stage 4 will ensure optimal utilization of the trucks. They will be able to travel at night and avoid traffic congestion by smart route management. Future of trucking is looking very promising with autonomous vehicles.

Platooning in Trucks

Another trucking innovation in the near future is platooning. Platooning is the coupling of two or more trucks to form a convoy through the use of automated driving support system and connectivity technology. The ways in which platooning works is:

• The trucks maintain a set automatically.
• The space between the trucks is reduced when the trucks are connected to each other during certain parts of the haul. This reduction of gap between the vehicles improves the aerodynamics which in turn improves fuel efficiency.

Peloton Technology plans to commercially introduce a platooning system that is partially automated. This system at present allows two trucks to work in a close chain. Peloton technology’s PlatoonPro is already being used in fleet operation by six of its clients.
The features of Platooning system by Peloton Technology:

• In the PlatoonPro system, the driver of the rear truck steers the vehicle.
• The powertrain and brakes are controlled by the PlatoonPro system. This allows the vehicles to follow one another at a small gap.
• According to Peloton Technology, the PlatoonPro system ensures average fuel savings of 7%.
• The Automated Following system is a combination of radar-based active braking and software with vehicle-to-vehicle communication. This allows the human driver to guide the steering, acceleration and braking of the following trucks. The human driver will also be able to connect the trucks’ safety systems with little or no latency.
• According to Peloton Technology, the L4 Automated Following truck will double the freight a truck driver is able to haul in one trip.

Usefulness of platooning

Platooning is said to have a number of benefits for the future of trucking:
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Improved safety

Truck platooning is said to improve the safety of the convoy as the brakes of all the trucks can be applied automatically and immediately. It has been seen that during truck platooning, automated brakes take one-fifth of the human time to analyze the road condition and apply the brakes.

Efficient performance

There can be optimal utilization of roads in the platooning system, increasing the range of the roads and avoiding traffic jams. As a consequence, goods can be delivered quickly and efficiently.

Cleaner environment

During truck platooning, the Carbon Dioxide emissions can be reduced along with fuel consumption. The air-drag friction is also considerately reduced as the trucks drive close to one another.
However, Platooning is not really as fuel-effective as it is being claimed by some. Daimler has said that during testing of the platooning system its fuel savings are less than estimated even in perfect conditions. These savings are further reduced if the platoon is disconnected and have to be accelerated again to get reconnected.

Shipper Platform: Uber Freight and Amazon Freight

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Freight brokerage connects shippers with the appropriate carriers. Recently, technology is playing a role in this aspect as well with Shipper Platforms.
The Trucking business was taken by storm with the introduction of shipper platforms like Uber Freight. Shipper platforms connect shippers with small fleets hauling freight via a load-matching feature. Uber Freight launched its load-booking app in May, 2017. The main intention behind the launch of Uber Freight was automating the manual processes of shipper selection and increasing market visibility. It was also intended to relieve shippers from time consuming legal proceedings and the anxiety of getting the best possible deal. This is one of the many ways on how owner operators can find loads.
The features of Shipper Platforms and how they may impact the future of trucking:

• Carriers can book a load with just the click of a button.
• Shippers can instantly connect to a network of drivers and fleets of the Uber network and manage shipments from their office or home.
• Uber freight enables shippers to tender a load with the click of a few buttons saving time and energy.
• Transparency of quotes helps shippers know the marketplace pricing instantly. The Uber Freight’s rates are current on-going marketplace rates which are generated in real-time.
• The vast network of drivers and small fleets with Uber Freight ensures that reliable and appropriate fleets are chosen.
• Shipments can be tracked. For every major milestone, automatic notifications are sent to the shippers.
• Uber Freight’s Uber Freight Plus has a loyalty program. It gives the drivers fuel discounts, servicing discounts, and helps in the purchase of old and new trucks among other features.
• With the completion of the delivery, all the necessary documents are arranged automatically for shippers.

Uber also reported that the freight division has a network of more than 50,000 carriers and mentioned that some of the largest carriers in the country are users of the app. However, it has not been all great for Uber Freight since its launch. Uber Freight posted a loss of $64 million in the first quarter of 2020. According to CNBC, Uber Freight gives 99% of the revenue generated to the trucking companies, which leaves little room for profitability.
There may also be a few other reasons why Uber Freight has not been fully able to live up to its vision:

Rudimentary features

With the growth of GPS tracking and ELD devices, merely providing shippers the details of the truck’s location is not unique. Shippers also need to know the route the truck is taking and the HOS data.

Not so reliable in fleet and driver selection

In Uber Freight there is not a lot of barrier to sign up. All carriers do not have to provide basic requirements like an active DOT/ MC number, proper safety ratings or proof of insurance. A shipper may not feel comfortable about doing business with such carriers.

Shortage of drivers

Uber Freight provides drivers a number of perks. In spite of this, driver shortage is quite a problem. Drivers will want a steady job that ensures a good livelihood. Hence, many drivers will prefer to work with a trucking company with regular pay, rather than rely completely on Uber Freight.

Focus on shippers rather than carriers

While launching the load-booking app, the shippers’ perspective was given a lot of importance as the price transparency feature shows. However, the carriers are an integral part of the trucking business too. Apart from the loyalty program there has not been a push to ensure that carriers get steady and constant work through Uber Freight.
Uber Freight is not deterred from their path though, and mentioned recently in 2020 that their focus is still there to grow the Uber Freight business.
Amazon has also launched its own freight app, ‘Amazon Freight’. Amazon Freight was released quite quietly some time in 2016 or 2017. This app allows truck drivers to take up jobs of hauling Amazon packages in Prime-branded trailers across the country.
Fleets can sign up through the website and hauling assignments get allotted accordingly. There are a few requirements which drivers have to fulfill:

• A fleet should have at least 3 trucks.
• The trucking company should have its own DOT/MC number.

Amazon tried to use the truck drivers base and enhance its business via the Amazon Freight service. However, truckers do not see a good livelihood coming from only hauling Amazon trailers. Anecdotal evidence says that the payment is fairly low. It can be kept as an option, or can be opted as back-hauling. Doing business exclusively with Amazon Freight is said to not be fully profitable. In spite of the initial setbacks, Uber Freight and Amazon Freight are changing the future of the trucking business.
Amazon launched its freight app ‘Relay’ in 2018. It operates in 5 states—Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania. Its aim is to give truckers additional freight information. It has features like route tracking and expedited checking procedures at the warehouses. It has been designed to help truckers get faster entry and exit at the Amazon warehouses. It is Amazon’s first attempt at automating the truck delivery process.
How does the Relay work?
In these 3 steps:
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Amazon also intends to build an app like Uber Freight that will match cargo shippers with truck drivers.

Blockchain Trucking

The trucking industry in general has certain inefficiencies. Deals can take time to get finalized. The related paperwork is again, time-consuming and hectic. The trucking industry needs an open platform where shippers and carriers can view each others profile, get the selection process done in less time and get the load rolling. However, how will this be possible? The Blockchain is kindling hopes of achieving a seamless and frictionless trucking system. First, let's understand the basics of blockchain and how it can make the trucking space a community where work can get done more efficiently.

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain is an open digital ledger. It is a business network where transactions can be recorded along with tracking of assets. Blockchain technology is inherently based on cryptography, a complicated branch of mathematics. Blockchain is also decentralized. It depends on the consensus of a peer network spread across the world to function. This digital ledger is made up of a series of ‘blocks’. The blocks are the bundles of transactions which are connected together in an open ‘chain’. The data entered in the blockchain is considered to be true and valid. As being a decentralized forum, there is no single authority to verify the facts. Everyone is always on the same page. It is impossible to change or modify the data in a block as that will modify the entire chain and will need consensus from the entire network.
The whole community associated with the blockchain will be able to validate the data entered by an organization as blockchain technology is an open-to-all ledger. It leaves no room for speculation, assumption and data falsity. Hence, a holistic trucking ecosystem can be developed through a blockchain network. After all, organizations can be rest assured that the data they have been provided is authentic and validated.

How will blockchain be used in the future of trucking?

The trucking industry can definitely benefit from blockchain technology. One of the obstacles of the trucking industry is that it is largely fragmented. There’s no open knowledge about which shippers are currently looking for carriers or which carriers are open to haul shipments. Blockchains open ledger will open up the trucking industry. One of the problems it will most definitely solve is matching appropriate truckers with shippers. In the longer run blockchain technology can function as an open network for truckers.
The trucking industry largely depends on paperwork. Due to this, administration and processing costs have gone up to 20%. However, blockchain technology allows the sharing and easy distribution of documents on the open ledger. This sharing facility makes paperwork between shippers and carriers quite unimportant. Easing out the hassles of documentation will make payments possible in less time.
Some trucks, especially refrigerated ones, carry medical shipments. These are at times detained at customs for large periods of time. This mostly happens when trucks exceed the allowed range of temperature. A blockchain enabled refrigerated truck-trailer made by the Swiss Tech company, SkyCell, lowered the temperature-deviated rate to less than 0.1%. With the use of smart approvals, clearance at the customs checkpoints can be made smoother and more efficient. Moreover, a refrigerated trailer has to be closely recorded at every step. It has to pass through more than 30 organizations which require more than 200 different pieces of information. Any miscommunication can either delay the shipment or the shipper may lose track of it. A blockchain network will ensure that communication at every step is clearly noted. This ensures the shipment reaches the respective facility on time.
The e-commerce industry has developed in such a pace that same-day and 2-hour delivery options are provided to customers. For a parcel to be delivered in the same day or in 2 hours, the technology should not have any glitch. The traditional trucking technology largely relies on paperwork at every stop can not be suitable for such a fast-paced delivery. The blockchain technology with its immediate access to order tracking and authentication ensures that the delivery takes place in the required time.
At times, trucking companies order spare truck parts and also old trucks. The tracking of these spare parts or old trucks can be pretty exhausting as no proper forum is provided for constant tracking. However, the blockchain network will enable the efficient tracking of the supply chain as well.
These are the different ways that blockchain can impact the future of the trucking industry:
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Efficient Freight Tracking

As mentioned above consumer expectations are ever-increasing along with demands for same-day delivery and two-hour delivery. Blockchain will not only take care of the tracking of the shipments but also help in authentication.
In order to ensure consistent improvement in trucking operations, authentic data has to be provided to transportation companies. EDI or electronic data interchange and API or application program interface leaves room for data manipulation or misinterpretation. Blockchain has the backup of the entire network to contribute information and authenticate the data. Hence, there is no scope of data tampering. Blockchain also improves the efficiency of temperature controlled and refrigerated trucking which is reliant on on-time delivery by giving data backup at every step.

IoT (The Internet of Things) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) enhance monitoring efficiency

Carriers and shippers can detect the total space taken up by a shipment in a trailer with the help of IoT. This helps to determine the expense of the shipment and all the information can be transmitted to the blockchain. This aids in maintaining the transparency of the freight cost. SkyCell had created containers for air freight. These containers monitor humidity, temperature and location for transporting biopharmaceuticals that require refrigeration. Its cloud platform is also utilized by SkyCell for recording every document of the shipping process, from start to finish. As these cargos travel through various check-points, all the required documents available at hand make the transportation process easy and efficient. Thus, the blockchain technology ensures that valuable cargo is transported intact and has the backup of all supporting documents that might be needed along the journey by using IoT and AI.

Maintaining vehicle performance history

While it is very important to have fleet tracking records for future use, the tracking records of a vehicles performance is also beneficial for the future. A vehicles performance records include its maintenance history and past performance. When considering used trucks, buyers are usually interested in the past history of the truck. However, that leaves a grey area of speculation. With blockchain technology, a prospective buyer and seller will have all the information validated by the entire network easing any intermediary speculations.

Ease of new carrier onboarding

While taking on new carriers, it is quite difficult for freight brokers to find all the adequate information on that carrier. It is quite time consuming to get all the required details together and that also leaves room for speculation. However, with the blockchain system all the necessary details of the new carrier will be provided by the decentralized network. This network stores all the data of the carriers operating in the transportation and freight industry. No new carrier will be able to give false information in an open network.

Vehicle to vehicle communication via the Internet of Things (IoT)

Platooning technology uses vehicle to vehicle communication to enable vehicles to work together as a convoy. This communication via IoT can improve the vehicles efficiency and safety as the platooning system claims to do. All communication information can be stored in the blockchain and this information will be helpful for all the transportation companies using the blockchain network to operate their fleets better.

Improving reliability of load boards

In a blockchain network, all the loads can be verified by others and get time-stamped in the process. This will ensure that loads are not duplicated and the carriers get authentic information. The blockchain network will also be able to authenticate all the loads put up. Thus, the reliability of the load board is improved due to a blockchain network.

Smart Contracts

Smart Contract allows companies to program self-executing tasks in the blockchain network. The task gets automatically performed when certain criteria are fulfilled. For example, a carrier’s payment can be released when the cargo reaches the facility if the task has been set accordingly.
Those are a list of some potential benefits. The largest blockchain network at present is by the Blockchain in Trucking Alliance (BiTA). Its current members have exceeded 1000 in number. The members include mcCleod Software, UPS, DAT, Salesforce, Don Hummer trucking, Transfix. BiTA members are taking part in nearly 85% truck-related global transactions. Its blockchain standards have brought a uniformity and efficiency in the trucking community. Sweetbridge is another blockchain based technology that seeks to take care of the significant inefficiencies of the supply chain across the world. Some major problems it addresses are — supply chain operations, supply chain flexibility and supply chain liquidity.
The blockchain revolution has just begun. It must also be taken into account that to use a blockchain system, the trucking or shipper company must have the adequate resources like the required hardware and software, along with the technological know-how. In spite of all the speculated downsides, blockchain seems like a wonderful solution for many trucking problems. It must be nurtured with time and technical advancement. In the coming years, the trucking industry’s profitability and efficiency will reach new heights if blockchain trucking’s functionality continues along the same graph.

Artificial Intelligence and Trucking

According to the American Trucking Association, the US freight transport will increase to 20.73 billion tons by 2028. This huge growth by 36.6% from the freight weight of 15.18 billion tons in 2017 will need an advanced infrastructure. This will be able to ensure smooth operation of such a ‘healthy’ industry. Along with the existing challenges, fuel prices, increasing cost of operation, driver shortage and shortage of shipping capacity will be the crucial areas in coming years. Every American is virtually affected by trucking. Hence, smooth operation must be ensured so that the economy and the lives of the people maintain a steady pace. AI can be of real help to continue to roll the wheels of the trucking industry.
Some of the key ways in which AI can affect the trucking space are:
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Cost reduction

AI will be able to foster predictive maintenance systems. This will help vehicles perform better. With constant monitoring, any mishap can be predicted beforehand. It can monitor by keeping in check the maintenance logs, IoT sensors, and other external sources. This will have a dual impact of reducing the maintenance costs and increasing the fleet performance. In other words, it can predict when a maintenance will be needed in advance of an issue occuring. So rather than being reactive with maintenance issues, carriers can be proactive.

Lower the numbers of highway fatality

AI along with IoT enhances vehicle to vehicle communication (V2V). V2V along with ADAS, or advanced driver assistance systems, can prevent nearly 40% of road crashes according to a publication by the NHTSA or National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The prevention of highway fatality will save a lot of money and more importantly lives. Cisco IBSG estimates that the savings can be $280 per crash.

Natural image processing

Trucking involves a lot of paperwork. The documentation has to be stored in proper folders as any information may be required for any purpose in the future. This process can be exhausting and time consuming. AI with its feature of natural image processing can recognize and retrieve any scanned document. This easy retrieving of documents will aid the manual task of computer data entry.

Predictive analytics

AI processes past performance records. This will not only predict the health of a vehicle but will also predict about the drivers. AI will also be able to analyze what conditions are preferred by drivers and what are the chances of driver retention.

Match carrier with shippers

While human freight brokers find it extremely taxing to connect the appropriate carriers with the shippers, AI can easily do so by matching facts and data.
With all the new technological advancements and more to follow, the future of trucking indeed looks promising and exciting. We are also a technology provider in this space and are always looking for ways to improve the life of truck drivers through technology. You can learn more about us - ELD Mandate.