The Pentagon was the first DropShip designed spe-cifically for deployment with the Congress-class Frigate to provide additional anti-fighter defenses. The Pentagon generates an incredible 5.573 Gs of thrust with the massive GM 5600 Sublite Maneuver Drives. With access to better acceleration than many aerospace fighters, crews of this DropShip operate at the very limits of human endurance.
The armament is configured to place fire on enemy fight-ers at all ranges, and the weaponry was regularly updated with the best the Hegemony had to offer. Initially consist-ing of large lasers and PPCs backed by missile racks, later versions featured extended-range lasers and Gauss rifles.
Armor protection is also heavier than usually encountered on such a small vessel—another design feature for dealing with elusive small craft.
In the years following the Reunification War, the SLDF’s WarShips were rarely called into action against other capi-tal vessels. With growing demand for convoy escorts, the Congress-class (and attached Pentagons) often saw more action than the SLDF’s Battle Cruiser and Battleship squad-rons combined. During the Second Periphery uprising, the SLS Star Devil (a Congress-class Frigate) was participating in a sweep of an uninhabited system where it stumbled into four aging Taurian Lola IIs. The destroyers were screen-ing a Taurian force en-route to assault the SLDF supply and command infrastructure on Brisbane. Far from any support, the Star Devil launched both her Pentagons with orders to concentrate on the Taurian troop transports. Fighting their way through the enemy fighter screen, the DropShips in-flicted crippling damage on four JumpShips before being destroyed. The Star Devil was also lost, but not before
tak-The automated defenses protecting the Terran Hegemony were completely familiar with the capabilities of the Pentagon-class DropShips. Thus it was no surprise that the Caspar defense drones treated Pentagons as high priority targets, and consequently none are recorded as having surviving the campaign to retake Terra from the Usurper. The design was thought lost until 3068, when ComStar launched its Case White attack to recapture Terra.
During that abortive attack, the Com Guard fleet ran into heavy resistance from previously unknown Blakist naval units, including several squadrons of Pentagons.
The Word of Blake has introduced a modified Pentagon that sacrifices its missile armament, marines, and much of its cargo capacity to mount a single AR-10 launcher in the nose. Ammunition is limited to four Killer Whales, two White Sharks, and four Barracudas.
Pentagon class DRoPshiP
crew: 4 officers, 10 enlisted/non-rated, 8 gunners, and 25 marines.
ammunition: 80 rounds Gauss ammunition (10 tons), 180 rounds LRM 20 ammunition (30 tons).
notes: Mounts 75.5 tons of standard armor.
Weapons: capital attack Values (standard) arc (heat) type short medium long extreme class
193
MediuM dropships
pentagon
dictator 194
medium dropships
The Reunification War outlined the shortcomings of SLDF’s ’Mech transports. With few exceptions (such as the Leopard), most were converted vehicle and infantry trans-ports, or worse, modified cargo hulls. Time and again the inability to deploy large ’Mech forces quickly hindered operations. The need for an effective high capacity ’Mech Carrier prompted Di Tron Heavy Industries to embark on a research and development project in 2582. The design they assayed, the Dictator, was capable of carrying three full BattleMech companies, but it was dogged with bureau-cratic and technical delays, and the war ended by the time the design became operational in 2600.
The spheroid hull is built around three separate com-pany-sized ’Mech bays stacked one atop the other. Each bay is isolated from the other and has a dedicated drop mecha-nism, access ramp, and door. While this arrangement helps protect individual companies should one bay receive dam-age, moving ’Mechs and heavy equipment between bays is virtually impossible unless the ship is grounded. Envisaged as operating as part of a taskforce, the DropShip has no provision for fighter bays. Independent actions were to re-main the dore-main of the smaller Leopard and Confederate.
Two decades after its introduction, a Command variant of the Dictator entered service. Used to carry a Regimental Command Company and three Battalion Command Lances, this vessel replaced the third BattleMech bay with eighteen heavy vehicle bays to transport the support vehicles of the Regimental Battlegroup. Theoretically one in four Dictators was supposed to be a Command version, but in practice the ratio was closer to one in ten.
The Dictator proved itself reliable and effective, serv-ing with distinction long after production ceased in 2725.
Operation Smother, the SLDF campaign to end hostilities between the Federated Suns and the Draconis Combine in 2729, depended heavily on the design. The Amaris Civil War proved to be the Dictator’s last campaign. As the pri-mary ’Mech transport in the drive to liberate the Terran Hegemony, many Dictators were destroyed by automated SDS Caspar drones. When the SLDF departed the Inner Sphere they preferred the new Overlord design and aban-doned the aging Dictators. Three Succession Wars took their toll on the Dictator, and most of the survivors are in a very poor state of repair. A few exceptions rest in the hands of the Magistracy of Canopus, which has deployed several flotillas of pristine-condition Dictators over the course of the last five years. It remains uncertain whether these are home-built craft or originate from another source.
DictatoR class DRoPshiP
Bay 1: BattleMechs (12) 1 Door Bay 2: BattleMechs (12) 1 Door Bay 3: BattleMechs (12) 1 Door Bay 4: Cargo (704 tons) 1 Door life boats: 9
escape pods: 4
crew: 6 officers, 27 enlisted/non-rated, 6 gunners, 72 bay personnel.
ammunition: 120 rounds SRM 6 ammunition (8 tons), 220 rounds AC/10 ammunition (22 tons), 180 rounds LRM 20 ammunition (24 tons).
notes: Mounts 42 tons of standard armor.
Weapons: capital attack Values (standard) arc (heat) type short medium long extreme class
195
MediuM dropships