On the day of the ceremony marking the transition from the A.D. to the Universal Century calendar, the space station Laplace, official residence of the Earth Federation prime minister, is destroyed by a terrorist bombing. One of the terrorists, a young man named Syam Vist, is caught in the explosion but barely manages to survive. He obtains a forbidden box that will come to be known as Laplace's Box.

Almost a century later, in Universal Century 0096...
But guys, it's not often people get
to see the inside of that thing.
.لكن يا رفاق، لا يتسنّى للنّاس كثيرًا أن يروا ما بداخل ذلك الشّيء
Aber es kommt nicht oft vor,
so ein Ding von innen zu sehen.
Pero la gente normalmente no tiene
la oportunidad de ver su interior.
Pero la gente no suele tener
la oportunidad de ver su interior.
Ouais, mais c’est plutôt rare
qu’on puisse y entrer, non ?
Però sai, non sono tante
le persone che riescono a entrarci.
Mas não é todo mundo que tem a 
chance de ver dentro daquela coisa!