>So what's the SPARTAN Laser like?

It's... well, it's the SPARTAN Laser. Or, if we're being formal, the ExoSalusia Heavy Industries Weapon, Anti-Vehicle, Model VI, Grindell/Galilean Non-Linear Rifle. It's a big honking shoulder-fired energy weapon. Very popular with both the SPARTAN-IIs of the Covenant War and some WDF Garland and Cyclone operators. It probably was derived from a vehicle-mounted weapon, though given its form factor, it's more likely to have been an aerospace weapon than a Destroid small laser.

And yes, the charging unit is legendarily uncommon, though like many such things, the problem has been magnified somewhat by the power of military myth.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.