[quote=ASTA]
I have a reply typed up, but what material are you proposing could be used to 'stop' a laser beam? What 'part' of the laser are you going to use to achieve this effect?
[/quote]

... [i]The same material used to build-up, contain, and fire the energy the laser uses[/i]. Again, laser = pure energy. Presumable, you made your firing apparatus out of a physical material of some sort, lets say, it's made out of Unobtanium. If Unobtanium can contain and propel the energy at its [u]maximum[/u] potential speed towards a target for the entire duration of firing, than that very same Unobtanium can be used to stop and dissipate that very same laser as it reaches its destination, especially seeing as how, even if it does manage to reach its target, the amount of energy that it had at firing point will be lesser than the energy it has upon striking a target, due to energy dissipating into the area around it as it travels from firing point to impact point.

That's about as clear as I can make it. Whatever material you would use to contain and fire the laser, which is pure energy, would be the same material you could use to completely stop that very same laser.

Also, yes, I'm aware a laser moves at the speed of light, but even an inter-system engagement at light speed would take minutes for projectiles and such to go from point A to point B. It takes 7-8 minutes for light from the Sun to reach the Earth. Every second the laser took to reach its target, it would be losing energy to its surrounding area. Most space engagements however would occur at ranges vastly greater than even this, due to the fact that there is no such thing as a maximum sight range in space. (Save this: That even light will dissipate into virtual nothingness after it travels beyond a certain threshold. Thus why seeing the most distant stars requires a telescope to detect finer and finer details of light. It's part of why the universe is cycling down into decay: Because the universe is always expanding, but the amount of energy within the universe is not, energy is spreading further out. Like [i]butter over too much toast[/i].)

[quote=Skyswimsky]
Gravity Lances!
[/quote]

Hmm...

EDIT

[b]@ASTA:[/b] To better clarify what I mean by energy dissipation, since you might think I'm meaning momentum, when I'm not. A laser is a [b]heated[/b] beam of light, and the heat is where it gets the majority (if not entirety) of its destructive power, no? Heat dissipates in space, however. What better example to use of this than the moon orbiting the Earth, which has no atmosphere to stop the heat of the sun, and of course the sun, which is immensely stupidly hot.

[url=http://www.space.com/14725-moon-temperature-lunar-days-night.html]The average temperature of the sunny side of the moon?[/url] 100 Celsius. [url=http://www.space.com/17137-how-hot-is-the-sun.html]The average temperature of the surface of the sun?[/url] 5,500 degrees celcius. Ish. (Depending on whether you would call the Photosphere or Chromosphere the true "surface" of the sun, seeing as how it is a giant ball of hydrogen and plasma.)

Thus, we can calculate just how much heat energy reaches the surface of the moon by taking the temperature of the sunny side of the moon and dividing it by the approximate surface temperature of the sun.

[b]1.8%[/b]. Well. That's pretty terrible. Perfect for maintaining life on Earth, granted, when you factor in our atmosphere that retains heat, and geothermal production of heat that filters up through the crust to the surface of the planet, and so on... But... Yeah. Your space laser is going to be pretty pitiful by the time it hits anyone unless you can quite literally see the enemy with your naked eye.