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...
Also, let us welcome in the dawn of the
Universal Century with smiling faces.
.وأيضًا، دعونا نرحّب ببزوغ القرن الكونيّ بكلّ سرور
Heißen wir nun die Morgendämmerung dieses
kosmischen Jahrhunderts lächelnd willkommen.
Recibamos el amanecer
del Siglo Universal con caras sonrientes.
Recibamos el amanecer
del Siglo Universal con caras sonrientes.
Accueillons à présent
à bras ouverts
Dopodiché,
E receber com sorrisos o novo mundo
da era do Século Universal!