laser
“You will hear it said that lasers have ‘a pathetically low range’ and are ‘suitable only for point defense and the inner engagement envelope’. To put this statement into its proper context, one must understand the proper scale of starship engagements; i.e., that the pathetically low range in question
trope-a-day
Laser Blade: Dear gods, no. Firstly and perhaps most importantly, light does not work that way. Most specifically, it does not stop. Apart from that, you could try and fake it with a hot plasma bottle – if you want a melee weapon that sets everything around it, including you, on
trope-a-day
Point Defenseless: Utterly averted. The automated point-defense systems – usually plasma lasers or other Energy Weapons, for their speed and reaction time, gridded across the hull – will rip to pieces just about anything that gets within their range in an colorful orgy of photonic destruction, unless it’s extremely fast, capable
Peréä (Thirteen Colonies)
Peréä System, far orbit, 4016 “Now?” “Okay, go ahead and open your eyes.” “You got me a giant laser! Wait, where did you get me a giant laser? … And, um, why did you get me a giant laser?” “In order: yes, the Laserider Network’s fire sale, and –” “Fire sale?