The aliens have been winning the war and the humans realize that their teenagers look similar, so they train teenagers to be warriors to infiltrate their camp. On the way in, they are ambushed and the captain of the squad got separated from his team and knocked out.
The team believes their captain is dead, but they have to continue the mission. By the end of the book, it's found that their captain is alive and has been found by the enemy, but the one that is caring for him knows that he is human and won't tell anyone.