Resonant Constellation

Every good mad scientist needs a death ray, and I have created many. Lightning zappers, enormous laser arrays, explosively driven death rays, even a cat-based death ray. Some of these even worked quite well, the cat-ray continues to strike fear into the hearts of enemies with expensive, clawable furniture. However it is the curse of a scientist to never be satisfied with “good enough,” and I set out to make the most incredible, most destructive, most fear-inspiring death ray ever.

I want a death ray to make Darth Vader wet himself and the Terminator weep with joy.

I began by listing the positive and negative characteristics of my previous inventions:

E/M:
Serious distance problems
Lightning is awesome
Lots of energy
Problems with aiming

Particle Beam:
Very practical
A lot of energy delivered at great range
Massive destruction
Super cool synchrotrons
Nuclear reactions
Antimatter production

Explosive Thingies:
Danger to operators (I need eyebrows)
Conventional and uncreative (booooring!)
Explosions=pure awesome
Cheap. Really cheap. Super extremely cheap.

Lasers:
A lot of energy required
Relatively small amount of destruction per unit area
Very effective
Explodes the air itself (cool)
Fusion possible (super frackin’ cool)
Takes up a lot of space

Upon weighing these carefully and consulting with the Upper Belt port authority as to which would be the most illegal, I decided upon the Particle Beam death ray. Now here comes the science:

Next: Design and Specifications