The story begins at the Battle of A Baoa Qu, in the last days of the One Year War. As the Federation and Zeon forces clash in the final climactic battle, two men struggle to survive. Eric Blanke, a Zeon mobile suit pilot, watches helplessly as his friends and comrades perish, one after another. Courand Hughes, a squad captain, is helpless to protect his friends and subordinates as they die, one by one. Both men are left terribly scarred by the battle. Two years later: Universal Century 0081. Eric Blanke continues to fight the Federation, alone, and against all odds. He seeks to punish the Earth Federation for its many evils. Against him stands Courand Hughes, captain of a special-operations mobile suit unit created specifically to combat renegade Zeon forces like Eric. Courand devotes himself wholly to battle, seeking his own death so he might rejoin his many friends who fell at A Baoa Qu.