Directed Energy

Laser guns advanced to the point of being man-portable, but the military was ultimately disappointed in their performace and applications.  With little penetrating power, susceptibility to adverse weather and atmospheric conditions, and ease of which they can be neutralized by "prism" smoke grenades and by reflective or ablative aerosol spray applied to armor.  Where it did find second life was by law enforcement officials and assassins.  Its poor penetration makes it ideal for urban operations where collateral damage is a concern, and its variable power output gives it flexibility as a lethal and non-lethal weapon.  Against an unarmored opponent, a single pulse from a laser gun can be devastating.  The laser beam superheats the moisture on the contact point, causing a rapid expansion of gas, or explosive evaporation.  Ordinarily, the result of this is a snap, a spark, and a puff of steam, but against soft tissue, the contact point pops in a violent, ragged wound.  One prevalent myth about laser weapons is that the beam cauterizes the wound as it causes it, but that is not true.  The errant particulate matter caused from the wound disrupts and refracts the light, effectively blocking it and preventing it from doing so.  The parts most vulnerable to laser fire are the neck, throat, and groin.  Victims who sustain wounds here will bleed to death in less than a minute without medical attention.  Aside from law enforcement officials, laser weapons were adopted by assassins throughout the system for their easy concealment, the tendency of their targets to be unarmored, and for the sharpshooting capability that a high-powered laser rifle has.  The two most common forms of weaponry employed are "hotshots" and marksman or modified sporting rifles.  Hotshots are single-shot holdout weapons that visually resemble a laser pointer or small flashlight.  They have an internal battery that carries enough charge for a single, high-powered shot, and they can easily be concealed in one's palm or pocket.  Assassins can carry a brace of them or several on their person in case they need more than one shot, and afterwards they simply deek the expended hotshot, thus eliminating the evidence of their involvement.  The other variety is high-powered rifles.  The military never adopted laser weapons beyond missile defense systems, but they found a niche popularity by hunters on earth, who recognized many of the system's advantages.  With the lack of a projectile, windage, bullet drop, and muzzle velocity need not be considered, it is silent, save for a slight hiss as the laser ionizes the moisture in the air, and the directed energy travels at the speed of light.  As such, several sporting rifle designs were created centered around high-powered laser systems.  Unfortunately, these traits also made it favorable with assassins.  Designs vary from a large, internal battery to loading separate, single-shot batteries.  The only concern is the telltale, sparkling trail of sparks and particulate matter that a laser beam leaves in an atmosphere that essentially paints a straight line from the victim to the shooter.  In a vacuum, laser beams are much more effective and this beam is invisible to the naked eye.  In an atmosphere, most successful assassins use portable, folding mirrors set up ahead of time to fire a shot that reflects at a series of angles to throw off any would-be pursuers long enough to disappear from the scene.

The unfortunate shortcoming of laser weapons in an atmosphere was actually turned to an advantage with electrolasers, which are prevalent throughout the system as a non-lethal deterrent.  Laser beams have a limited fire rate in an atmosphere.  The first shot superheats anything in its path, which evaporates the inherent moisture in the atmosphere, creating a channel of ionized gas that reflects and refracts all light going through it, which renders the laser beam essentially harmless, unless it is fired from a different position and angle or the operator waits for the ionized gas to dissipate in the atmosphere.  However, this ionized gas channel is identical to the kind that naturally form in a lightning storm, and it was found that the channel a laserbeam creates can similarly conduct an electrical charge.  Electrolasers effectively and reliably project a bolt of lightning in a straight and narrow "beam".  First, a laser fires at a less-than-lethal intensity, and immediately after, a powerful electrical discharge is fired.  The result is what appears to be an instantaneous, bluish laser beam that carries several thousands of volts and can incapacitate armored and unarmored targets alike.  The ones law enforcement officials carry are designed not to discharge lethal amounts of electricity, but gray market modifications exist that allow these limitations to be bypassed.  The resulting "firearm" is extremely effective and widespread, but the design is not without its drawbacks.  Adverse and stormy weather conditions with naturally-occurring ionized gas channels drastically reduce its range and effectiveness, so it works best in arid environments and thin atmospheres.  Naturally conductive materials will attract the electrical charge, so metal railings will disperse the discharge, and latticed metal surfaces like grates and chain link fences will effectively stop it.  The power required to generate the electrical discharge is massive, and requires either a large, hefty single-use battery, or an even larger and heavier external one worn on the belt or back, and even then, after a shot is fired, it takes a considerable amount of time to build up a charge and wait for the gas channel to dissipate.

There also exists ample evidence that both militaries were in the process of developing plasma-based weaponry during the war.  Superheated plasma normally dissipates in the atmosphere at ranges beyond a few inches, and applications were only used in industrial tools, but the ionized gas channel that a laser creates could effectively contain a "bolt" of plasma, giving it a channel to travel down to its target, which would result in a devastating expansion of gas and explosion.  Both armies were forced to cut the programs before they were finished as their budgets plummeted in the war, and the project ultimately folded.  All that remains is documentation that the top-secret project existed, but none of the labs or prototype weapons that were developed have been found (that we know of).