Earth Alliance Vengeance Class Advanced Destroyer

Vengeance Class History

The Victory Class Advanced Destroyer was built with the cooperation of the Interstellar Alliance. It had all the benefits of Minbari and EA tech, along with some form of the ancient Vorlon technology that supposedly disappeared when they went beyond the Rim. Unfortunately for the IA, a saboteur destroyed the Victory construction yard after the first two units were completed in 2267. No other Victories would be able to be built for some time, while the yards were reconstructed, which would take some time as the EA was busy with the Drakh Plague. The lone Victory class ship went about finding a cure for the plague. But it was not alone.

Shortly after the EAS Excalibur defeated a Shadow Hybrid vessel, it discovered a planet that had recently seen some cratering of its surface. Upon inspection, the captain of the Excalibur came to the conclusion that they had “an opposite number.” Which in fact they did.

One month after the Victory’s design had been finalized, the same EA black-ops group responsible for the Shadow Hybrids got their hands on the plans for the Victory. They were unable to reproduce the Minbari Neutron Lasers, and they were replaced with more conventional, though advanced, heavy lasers. The Vorlon Lightning cannons were integral to the design, so they had no problems with it. The fusion cannons were replaced with light pulse cannons, and the interceptors were upgraded to the heavy interceptor battery. The rest of the ships systems were identical to the Victory’s.

The first vessel, the EAS Vengeance, left its secret dock one month after the Victory and Excalibur engaged the Shadow Planet Killer at Earth. The second ship, the EAS Retribution, was launched days before the Excalibur found the planet that hosted their construction. The Retribution was only 70% complete, and lacked most weapons systems, though the lightning cannon and most interceptors were in place. Final construction was conducted while underway, rendezvousing with supply ships and tenders along the way. She was finally completed in early 2269.

The current status of these vessels is unknown, though it is suspected that they are actively taking the fight to the Drakh and any other enemy that the Earth Alliance has. It is thought that the Vengeance trailed the Excalibur for few months, producing what the sensor crews onboard the Excalibur thought were sensor echoes.

(Note: The idea for this design came from one of the unpublished Crusade scripts, detailing the Excalibur’s encounter with a Shadow Hybrid, and finding a planet that had previously been used for construction. In it, the blast crater is an exact match of the crater that the Excalibur produces with its main gun. I took that to mean the EA had built their own Victory class ship, though I modified it to reflect their lack of Minbari weapons tech. I was tempted to add Shadow enhancements and weapons to the ship, but the way I understand it, Vorlon and Shadow tech don’t get along well on the same vessel. The second ship I reasoned would have been under construction at the base that built the Vengeance, just moved when the Excalibur got too close.)