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...
If we don't hurry, something will happen
that can never be undone.
.إن لم نسرع فسيحدث شيءٌ لا يمكن التّراجع عنه أبدًا
Wenn ich mich nicht beeile,
wird ein Unglück geschehen!
Si no nos damos prisa,
sucederá algo irreparable.
Si no nos damos prisa,
sucederá algo irreparable.
avant que la situation
devienne irréversible.
Se non ci sbrighiamo,
la situazione precipiterà in modo irreversibile.
E se eu não me apressar,
algo sem volta vai acontecer.