CHOAM- BUTLEKIAN JIHAD IMPERI AL ADMINISTRATION* T B Jones series of articles in Journal of Ancient Economies (La&sbVty T Eboyane The Faufreiuches The Great Ckai* of Being andNatu rat Science (Yofba. Rose) LASER WEAPOfiS. (Lasguns) Developed (lining the Brst Empire as weapons of war Since the development of the Holtzman Shield, though, the use of lasers has diminished considerably, and they are used today almost exclusively as antiwildlife weapons and in sport shooting The earliest lasguns were massive mounted weapons weighing upwards of several tons, and were used as antiaircraft weapons, or in orbit as antisatellite weapons Shortly after their invention, the first porta ble lasguns were developed and produced and until the general acceptance of the Holtzman Shield, lasers were the main weapons of all armed conflict Development Lasers were first developed for industrial use as cutting torches scalpels and drills The primitive devices were immobile and had an effective range of only a few meters They were large, bulky, awkward to operate and required massive amounts of power The first lasguns were simply adapta tions of the industrial laser with longer range but few other changes These impractical weapons could not compete with the projec tile weapons of the day, and were never widely produced Legend has it that the first widely produced lasguns were the Anusatellite Lasers, produced by Houses Washington and Steel during the very beginnings of the atomic age when both Houses shared a single plan et and neither was sure that the other would not use atomics These lasguns were still large and used too much power but the value of having them in orbit nevertheless was seen as an overriding benefit The first truly personal laser was developed late in the First Empire and was intended LASER WEAPONS 366 LETO S CART for use mainly as a communications device However it was quickly discovered that the power could be stepped up (albeit at the cost of more rapidly depleting the power pack) and that this increase converted the message laser into a lasgun that could be earned and used by a single perbou These 'communications devices' already had the form of more conventional rifles (&nce the message beam had to be visually aimed by the user) so their adaptation as weapons may not have been accidental The main drawbacks of the first lasguns were the large, heavy poweipacks and their limited numbers of firings before recharging Even at a range of one hundred meters against an unprotected target, a user of a primitive lasgua could count only on ten or so shots from a single powerpack In addition, these weapons still used visible light, which limited their effectiveness when used in an atmosphere (because of OK diffraction effects of the gases), and which also made the weapons embarrassingly subject to reflection from intentionally mirrored or natu rally reflective surfaces The next major step in lasgun development was the development of so-called "Radio Lasers, * which used radiations outside of the wavelengths of visible light as the lasmg frequencies This development, coupled with continuing advances in power storage technology, allowed the lasgun to come into its own as the weapon of choice of ail combatants The most powerful lasguns were the ones using the wavelengths of long-wave radio they were almost impossible to deflect or block, and had extremely long ranges Unfortunately, they also required very large chambers, due to the length of the waves bemg produced, and were impractical as anything except mounted weapons, either on spaceships or in defensive positions The lasgun of popular memory usually employed deep-ultraviolet wavelengths and ranged in size from small hand-held weapons to heavy, mounted, barely portable weapons, and included the popular lasenfle The crewed weapons usually had a separate powerpack, which could be discarded when depleted and replaced in the field, personal weapons were generally charged by 'power buttons," small batteries which were inserted into the stock or grip of the weapon and either discarded, replaced or recharged when depleted The advent of lightweight batteries gave lasgun users the ability to fight for extended periods of time without resupply, and made lasguns the basic combat weapon for dll branches, of the military Lasguns today The development of the Holtzman Effect Shield spelled the end of the lasgun as a common weapon Today lasgun manufacture and ownership is strong ly restricted, since accidental contact be tween a lat>er beam and one of the ubiquitous personal shields is extremely deadly Collectors and others who own fasguns are normally prohibited from owning the power sources for their weapons, except in certain specified locations where lasgun enthusiasts gather to test their target shooting skills, or on wild planets, where lasguns are still highly useful as protective weapons W D I Further reference HOLTZMAN EFFECT LETO'S CART.