In After Colony 196, one year after the end of the war, the Earth and the colonies are at peace, and the Gundam pilots (with the exception of Wufei) send their Gundams to the Sun to be destroyed. On Christmas Eve, however, the Barton Foundation kidnaps Relena and declares war on Earth, using the late Treize's alleged daughter, Mariemaia, as a figurehead. Their plan is to conduct Operation Meteor as it originally was planned. The Gundam pilots have to intervene, but Wufei is revealed to have joined forces with the Mariemaia Army. Additional information concerning the backgrounds of the Gundam pilots is revealed.