Eltab
Lord of the Hidden Layer
Go with the 'hyperdrive improvements'. Do you IRL drive a Model T?
If you decide the scientist comes up with something, the prototype gadget is somehow installed in a smuggler's ship. The captain challenges Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon to a race. (The pilot/owner treats it a 'black box') The ship has really good speed, beyond its previous reputation. The gadget is NOT ready for mass production, though - the crew has to spend a lot of time tweaking and fine-tuning and replacing burned-out parts because of the gadget and its unpredictable side-effects.
If you decide the scientist comes up with nothing, then he is working slowly alone through a series of experiments (that a team of researchers sponsored by a big Corp has already completed in an off-the-beaten-path lab) promising stepwise refinements in existing technology and performance.
Edit: had to change the tenses of all verbs because I originally thought the desired era was OLD Republic.
If you decide the scientist comes up with something, the prototype gadget is somehow installed in a smuggler's ship. The captain challenges Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon to a race. (The pilot/owner treats it a 'black box') The ship has really good speed, beyond its previous reputation. The gadget is NOT ready for mass production, though - the crew has to spend a lot of time tweaking and fine-tuning and replacing burned-out parts because of the gadget and its unpredictable side-effects.
If you decide the scientist comes up with nothing, then he is working slowly alone through a series of experiments (that a team of researchers sponsored by a big Corp has already completed in an off-the-beaten-path lab) promising stepwise refinements in existing technology and performance.
Edit: had to change the tenses of all verbs because I originally thought the desired era was OLD Republic.
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