story identification - Book about attack by aliens that decimate entire human fleet and take a single prisoner

I remember reading it in mid-to-late 90s. It was a hardcover with a huge starship drawn on the cover.

The plot was about humans making first contact with a new alien species, when aliens suddenly attack and quite easily destroy the entire fleet. Only one survivor is taken prisoner to the aliens' homeworld, where he is being prodded, tested, and evaluated. The survivor happens to be a son of some important general who sends an elite force of commandos to rescue him. In the meantime humans are preparing for the inevitable invasion.

The ending seemed open, as if this book was part of a set. Seems like I may be missing closure to this story.

Answer

It sounds like the first book in Timothy Zahn's Conquerors's saga. In the first book, Conqueror's Pride, alien starships attack a Peacekeeper task force and destroy it in six mintues. They capture a single commander; he is the son of a high government official (Lord Cavanagh--a member of parliament).

This Lord Cavanagh recruits a former pilot who assembles a group of elite pilots called the Copperheads, to rescue his son.

The next two books in the triology are Conqueror's Heritage and Conqueror's Legacy.

All three were published in the 1990s (first one in 1994).

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