Starting with an ordinary cerenkov run, I let the ion weapon accumulate two charges. Then I paused, assigned a target for the weapon, and saved (while still paused).
Upon resuming, the weapon no longer fires projectiles. It just cools down, fires nothing, and repeats.
And each time, it awards a skill point to the slacker manning the system.

Zip: Several saved games, dumps of their contents (produced by the editor), and a summary of what occurred between saves.
Sidenote: I had to use dropbox because the forum rejected my attachment attempt.
Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached.