Hidden Empire: Kevin J. Anderson

Book I of The Saga Of Seven Suns. In the far future humanity began to search the stars, sending out vast spaceships that would take generations to reach their goals. They encountered the Ildiran empire - apparently the galaxy's only other intelligent civilisation. The Ildrians came to earth and passed on the knowledge of their stardrive, allowing humanity to expand to the stars. Two hundred years after that first contact, human colonies proliferate throughout the galaxy. But as Mankind prepares to seize the future, danger comes from the past, as two human archeologists glean forbidden knowledge from the ruins of a dead world. Once, the insect-like Klikiss ruled the stars. Now, only their robot servants remain, guardians of a terrible technology - the Klikiss Torch, which has the power to create suns. Humanity prepares the flex its new-found muscle and activate the Torch for the first time in millennia - but there are reasons the Klikiss empire fell and a train of events is about to set in motion that will change the universe for ever...Cover art by Chris Moore.