Stealing Light

From the back cover of the Tor UK TPB: "The secrets of the past will fan the flames of war - For a hundred and fifty thousand years the alien Shoal have been hiding a terrible secret behind a facade of power. In the twenty-fifth century, the Shoal dominate the galaxy and control all trade and exploration, they alone possessing the secret of faster-than-light travel. So mankind has established just a handful of interstellar colonies, their freedom and knowledge of the galaxy limited by the Shoal's punitive restrictions. Dakota Merrick is a machine-head pilot, on the run from one of the human Consortium's most powerful criminals. Desperate for escape, she contracts to ferry an expert team to a remote star system. Her passengers hope to scavenge a functioning FTL-drive from a derelict starship - rumoured to pre-date the Shoal. But they'll expose an ancient genocide the Shoal will do anything to hide. An Dakota will be forced to face demons from her own past."