Splintered Suns

The "proper galaxy-spanning space opera" series continues with a treasure hunt that could unlock an advanced civilization's lost technologies (Ian M. Banks).

For Pyke and his crew of thieves, the plan was simple enough: Travel to a backwater desert planet, break into a museum, steal a tracking device, then use it to find a ship buried in the planet's vast and trackless sandy wastes.

Except that the museum vault is a bio-engineered chamber, and the tracking device is sought-after by another ga...