The Setting of the Fifth Sun

When their family's company send brothers Patricio and Pepe Lopez to 1518 Cuba to acquire property that their corporation wants to establish on, fighting a war of conquest is one thing neither sibling wants to do. However, they are pushed into becoming involved in such a conflict when their ship gets pressed into joining several other vessels for an expedition to Mexico to look for a lost nephew of Cuba's Governor. To earn fare home, the Lopez brothers join the expedition. Captain Hernando Cortez, the expedition's commander, decides to turn the search into a mission of conquest when he learns about the existence of Azteca, the greatest indian empire in Mexican history. The Captain's decision pushes the Lopezes into a war that they wish wouldn't have any part in.