A carrier variant of the Daedalus battlecruiser

The standard Daedalus carries two substantial flight pods but relies mainly on missiles and later beam weapons, keeping it on the battlecruiser side of the definition. Adding a second pair of pods could double the fighter component without proportionally enlarging the central hull. A mixed squadron could let ordinary Daedalus-class ships retain planetary landing ability while dedicated four-pod variants remain in orbit and provide fighter mass. Moving production beyond Earth could then exploit extraterrestrial resources and reduce the vulnerability of concentrating every hull in one terrestrial program.