Gundam SEED Destiny is the sequel to Gundam SEED and the second Gundam series to be set in the Cosmic Era timeline. Set in C.E. 73, two years after the peace treaty between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance was signed in Gundam SEED, members of the Earth Alliance special task force known as "Phantom Pain" hi-jack three advanced mobile suits from a ZAFT armory base during a meeting between Orb representative Cagalli Yula Athha and new ZAFT chairman Gilbert Durandal. What begins as a pursuit of this band of Extended Naturals by Orb refugee Shinn Asuka, Alex Dino (Athrun Zala in disguise), Rey Za Burrel and the crew of the Minerva, escalates into cataclysmic circumstances which lead to the declaration of yet another war.