Conquerors' Pride — Timothy Zahn

A long era of peace and prosperity in the interstellar Commonwealth has suddenly come to an end. Four alien starships of unknown origin have attacked, without provocation, an eight-ship Peacekeeper task force, utterly destroying it in six savage minutes. The authorities claim there were no survivors. But Lord Stewart Cavanagh, a former member of Parliament, has learned through back channels that one man may have survived to be captured by the aliens: his son, Commander Pheylan Cavanagh.

A large-scale invasion appears imminent, and the strictest security measures are in effect ... measures that Lord Cavanagh has no choice but to defy He recruits Adam Quinn, who once flew with the elite Copperheads--fighter pilots whose minds are literally one with their machines--to rescue his son. Quinn assembles a crack force of Copperheads to steal out of the Commonwealth security zone and snatch Pheylan Cavanagh from the ,Conquerors. Depending on the outcome, Quinn and his men will return home as heroes or as the galaxy's most-despised traitors--if they come home at all.