Ganwold's Child

An exciting multivolume saga of worlds at war in space opens in Ganwold's Child. The story starts with a child: Tristan Serege, son of Darcie and Lujan, the heroic leader of the Spherzah, the "special forces" of the Unified Worlds.
Darcie is taking Tristan to rejoin Lujan in the Enach system when the fierce masuki, nonhuman slavers, attack and capture their transport ship. Darcie escapes with Tristan in a lifepod and touches down on Ganwold, a primitive planet controlled by the Dominion, the long-time enemy of the Unified Worlds. But they have also accidentally jumped more than a year forward in time due to a malfunction in the space drive and cannot expect rescue, so Tristan must grow to young manhood in hiding among the alien ganan.
Tristan is barely eighteen when Darcie contracts a lingering, life-threatening illness. To help her, he and his gan "brother," Pulou, go on a quest to seek his father, Lujan. In one of the Dominion colonies, they are captured and turned over to the Sector General, Mordan Renier, who uses Tristan as a bargaining chip in an attempt to invade Sostis, the homeworld he lost years before in the war. General Lujan must combat Renier's impending attack, realizing he could lose the family he's just learned is still alive.