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...
What's taking so long
with the bulkheads?!
!ما الذي يؤخّر الحواجز؟
Schließt die Luken! Schnell!
¡¿A qué se debe
la demora de los mamparos?!
¡¿A qué se debe
la demora de los mamparos?!
Dépêchez-vous de fermer les sas !
Sbrigatevi a chiudere le paratie!
Por que as ogivas ainda 
não estão prontas?