((What I said earlier about 10 to 15 survivors? Scratch that. Two to five. Somebody get Faith's body! Or whatever's left of it by then. Those modifications could be useful later. (picking up her head, assuming it's detached, kind of goes without saying)
At this rate, this encounter will end as well as that novel did. I suppose the only right answer here is the same as there, at least by now.
@Corsair: A "path clearer" would have to be some sort of combination vector and gravity manipulator to push the atmosphere apart in front of the shot, because just burning it away with a laser won't work. Even then I'm not sure you'd be able to fire the shot through the resulting vacuum area before it collapses, and even if you do the shockwave from the collapse would be quite bad. This is not to mention you'd need a ridiculously powerful set of manipulators to clear the atmosphere from the barrel to safe impact range.
All in all, what you're trying to achieve is an impractically powerful weapon with a cost such that it'd be easier and cheaper to make a fusion instigator machinegun. Trying to fit a kind of weapon that could attack ships in orbit from a planet's surface, into a man-portable package tends to do that, I guess.
@Piecewise: Perfect. Well not perfect, but at least it's something Anton could theoretically assemble and have with him on the first mission, assuming the mission won't be to investigate where the last team disappeared to and pick up whatever remains of them. Hm, then again, can he?))
Anton, oblivious to the commotion in the rec room, continues his work.
Assemble a (VR) prototype Red Hand electrolaser gauntlet, using a 4 token generator mounted to the forearm piece, and a hand laser emitter/spark gap assembly on the back of the hand, firing along the center of the hand rather than being aligned to fingers.
Reuse the hand laser's switch mechanism, modified to allow alternately activating the laser, the arc, or both, with different hand positions. Add a simple "safety" switch that can be pushed with the other hand or just pressed against a surface, switching the whole assembly on or off to avoid accidental discharges in non-combat situations.
See how much extra material is needed besides what is already present in the generator and the hand laser. Show the design, and the required extra materials list, to Steve.
"Steve? I am sure you're still watching. I don't suppose there's a handy pile of scrap metal and electronics around that I could dig through? I need some materials to complete this assembly, and I doubt brand new stuff is free here." He pauses for a moment, thinking. "On that note, I don't think I ever saw an actual workshop here. Are there any tools available for use by us?"