Directed by Mitsuo Fukuda, Gundam SEED Destiny is the sequel to Gundam SEED and the second Gundam series to be set in the Cosmic Era timeline. Set in CE 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" hijack three new mobile suits from a ZAFT armory base during a meeting between Orb Chief Representative Cagalli Yula Athha and ZAFT Chairman Gilbert Durandal. What begins as a pursuit of a band of Extended Naturals by Orb refugee Shinn Asuka, Alex Dino (Athrun Zala in disguise), Rey Za Burrel, Lunamaria Hawke, and the crew of the Minerva, escalates into cataclysmic circumstances which lead to the declaration of yet another war.