[ZeroAdunn]

Here's sorta what I am going for with fighters:

"Ultimately it was discovered that while the larger intersteller ships packed a punch and could take a hit, they were slow in combat and had trouble maintaining weapons lock as well as the older, system ships. The greater speed as well and increased maneuvarability gave them a greater chance of avoiding hits, and an even greater chance of hitting their targets."

Unfortunately these ships would require larger carriers to take them across warp points...