The Vengeance Class DropShip is the largest Fighter carrier in existence. Capable of carrying over 40 Fighters and three small craft, the ship functions as AeroSpace Fighter support for major operations. The Vengeance is one of the most formidable vessels operating in the Inner Sphere. Though it does not have the firepower of a Union Class DropShip, its Fighter complement can lay waste to a ship on a matter of minutes. Able to launch up to sixteen Fighters per minute, the Vengeance can deploy its entire force in a matter of minutes.
         The long, flat, box-shaped hull of the Vengeance is not streamlined enough to allow for atmospheric travel. Instead, the ship is limited to orbital and interplanetary maneuvers. Like the Achilles and Avenger Class DropShips, the Vengeance has no separate interplanetary drive. Because its drives are all aft mounted, "up" is always toward the nose of the ship.
         A cavernous AeroSpace Fighter bay takes up the bulk of the DropShip’s interior. The bay contains 43 Fighter and small craft cubicles that line the walls. Running down the center of the bay are a number of small bracing walls separated by open archways. In an emergency, and always during combat, tremendous doors seal the archways, dividing the bay into two smaller, self-contained bays.
         Referred to as the port and starboard hanger bays, each bay has four small launch decks at the forward end and a single recovery deck at the aft end. These are not actually separate decks, but the terminology is used to distinguish one from the other. Each launch deck and recovery deck can be sealed off from the hanger bays, allowing simultaneous launch, recovery, and repair of AeroSpace Fighters without the need to depressurize the hanger bays.
         Each launch deck has its own fueling and weapons fitting equipment. To prevent damage to the rear door of the launch deck, each deck is equipped with a blast deflector. This heavy steel plate absorbs part of the energy of the Fighter’s fusion drive and spreads the rest of the energy along the reinforced interior walls.
         The recovery deck has a reinforced inner door to prevent an incoming craft form plowing through the door and damaging the hangar bay. In addition, each recovery deck is equipped with magnetic grappling gear and special life-support equipment for saving damaged Fighters and their pilots.
         The crew decks are located on either side of the hangar bays. Mounted on one of the large, flat sides is the ship’s cockpit-style bridge. The ship’s captain and the flight operations chief sit at the front of the bridge are surrounded by viewscreens and windows. Behind them sit the pilot and the navigator.
         If the bridge is the brain of the ship, the engines are its heart. The ship’s large engine section sits behind the hangar bays and between the two Fighter recovery decks. Because of the engine section’s proximity to the recovery deck entrances, any craft that enters an accelerating Vengeance will get fried. Therefore, the ship’s engines must be shut down completely during recovery operations. This puts the Vengeance in a dangerous situation should it need to recover a Fighter during combat. Under normal conditions, however, the ship can receive up to two Fighters per minute.
         The Vengeance is designed to ensure aerospace superiority over a contest world or system. Being such a tremendous resource, it is sent only to areas of the utmost importance. When one of these vessels is present, it is quite likely that someone high up is showing a definite desire to hold onto the local property. The ship always deploys as part of a larger fleet as few commanders wish to risk them being surrounded without support.
         During combat, the ship deploys its complement of AeroSpace Fighters then sits behind a small Fighter covering force. If enemy forces get too close, the defending Fighter group and its escorts engage the enemy. If the enemy gets past that group, the Vengeance’s moderate weapons array will try to drive them away. With its limited maneuverability, the Vengeance must often slug it out until help can arrive, or else run in hopes that the attackers will quit the chase before long.