(Found) Main character escapes from bandit organization and pilots have to go into pods to guide ships ftl.

[NyxtIrae]

Looking for a book that was probably from the late '90s or early 2000s. The main character escapes from an interstellar pirate organization only to get captured by an alien military fleet. They give him advanced implants and send him back into the organization undercover to help expose their secrets. The way ships go FTL is the pilot have to go into some sort of immersion pods where their thoughts and imagination is what powers the FTL drive. During the course of the book the main character helps rescue a " ghost ship" that has been lost in the FTL ether for like a century.
Thank you so much ahead of time!

 

[Orcadian]

This put me in mind of The Halcyon Drift by Brian Stableford. From a couple of Goodreads reviews: "Grainger, a [starship] pilot, has been shipwrecked ... in a hazardous star system called the Halcyon Drift. Unexpectedly [he is] rescued and, bankrupt, accepts a job offer to pilot the new hi-tech Hooded Swan. Unfortunately, this means going back to the Halcyon Drift to [find Lost Star], a ship that disappeared there, carrying a priceless cargo. [Clearly this is] a very dangerous job - and during their search for Lost Star, the crew of the Hooded Swan encounter truly alien life.

 

[NyxtIrae]

I searched the net for ages and finally found it! It's called Eternity's End by Jeffrey A. Carver. Thank you for your attempt though, now I have a new book to check out.