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...
It's not like being in a vacuum.
.الأمر ليس كالتواجد في فراغ
Im Vakuum ist das ganz anders!
No es como estar en el vacío.
No es como estar en el vacío.
C’est plus dur que dans le vide !
Non funziona come nel vuoto!
No vácuo, era mais fácil!