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...
Let us come together in
this joyous moment
دعونا نجتمع سويًّا في هذه اللّحظة السّعيدة
.ونقدّم الشّكر للماضي، لحقبة ما بعد الميلاد
Lasst uns diesen glorreichen Moment
gemeinsam empfangen …
Unámonos en este momento de alegría
Unámonos en este momento de alegría
Nous allons partager ensemble
ce moment unique
Condividiamo tutti quanti
questa grande fortuna,
Vamos nos reunir neste momento de júbilo