Conquerors' Pride

Four alien warships of unknown origin destroy an eight-ship Commonwealth task force in six minutes, ending a long peace and telling humanity nothing about who did it. Lord Stewart Cavanaugh learns through back channels that one man may have been taken alive: his son Pheylan. With the government unwilling to move, he hires Adam Quinn, once a Copperhead fighter pilot flying craft wired directly into his mind, to put a crew together and go get him out. First of Timothy Zahn's Conquerors trilogy.