Yellow Jacket YJ-15

Overview
One of the many examples of early design theft, the Yellow Jacket was prototyped after agents from the Capellan Confederation stole blueprints from General Mechanics for the Wasp. The first production model of the Yellow Jacket was built in 2473, just nine years after the original Wasp WSP-1 was introduced. Originally a direct competitor of the Wasp, it would also go on to compete against the Stinger when it began production in 2479. All three were marketed for the same purposes though the reason the Wasp and Stinger persisted throughout the years when the Yellow Jacket did not was simple: it was originally only made for the Capellan Confederation and when it was finally exported, it was only a few years before the factory that made it was destroyed in the First Succession War. Though it didn’t contain anything that would become known as LosTech, no one opted to continue making it on other production lines.

Capabilities
The Yellow Jacket’s engine gave it the same top speed as the standard Wasp and Stinger, though in what some saw as a strange design choice, it was only given five jump jets instead of the six it could fully utilize, giving it a jump distance of 150 meters, a disadvantage over the competition’s 180. In terms of protection however, it was clad in 5.5 tons of armor over the 3 tons that both the Wasp and Stinger used. The armament was also powerful for a 25 ton frame, although it was limited by range, since most of the damage came from an array of six Small Lasers. A single Medium Laser provided the only mid-range protection or damage potential. Still, if the Yellow Jacket was able to call upon its speed or jump jets to get in close to a target, it could potentially lay down enough damage in one alpha strike to be equivalent to an AC/20.

Deployment
Upon first production, the Yellow Jacket was used exclusively by the Capellan Confederation. It was often pitted against units known to deploy Stingers and Wasps in order for House Liao to try and show their superiority in early BattleMech design and technology. Thanks to the peace brought about by the Star League, it mostly saw action against the rare pirate raid or Periphery rebellions near border worlds. When the Amaris Civil War broke out, it was used extensively by both Capellan and SLDF forces, though Stefan Amaris’ Rim Worlds forces got their hands on some as well. It would later be theorized that the Confederation actually began selling to both sides during the conflict though this was never proven. After Terra had been retaken by the SLDF, the Capellan Confederation opened up sales to any comers and the Yellow Jacket began to spread throughout the entire Inner Sphere, though it quickly began to disappear after the production line that made it was destroyed in 2794.