The Firelighters — Christopher G. Nuttall

A new stand-alone novel, set between A Learning Experience and Hard Lessons! The universe is not a very nice neighbourhood.  The strong races rule the galaxy, doing as they please; the weak are enslaved or driven from their homeworlds or simply exterminated by the ruling powers.  The Solar Union's only hope of survival is to master GalTech, and improve upon it, before the Galactics realise the human race is no longer trapped on a primitive world, at the mercy of any spacefaring race who stumbles across it.  But GalTech keeps its secrets close, and time is not on humanity's side. But there is one hope.  On a primitive world, enslaved by a far more advanced race, there is a research lab with the keys to galactic technology, offering the promise of unlocking everything if they can be captured and returned to Sol.  And so a highly-trained team is dispatched to steal the tech at all costs, even if it means setting the entire planet ablaze …