The race is on! Claus and Lavi enter in a race, that they've entered so many limes before. But this time is different. They hope to finish the race, and they almost do (in 1st place too), but they are hit by a renegade vanship delivering ""cargo"". They soon learn that the ""cargo"" is actually a little girl. Claus decided to take the mission and is told, by Ralph, not to run his engine because the people after the girl can detect it. Just as Claus and Lavi leave the enemy vanship approaches. Now Ralph must make the ultimate sacrifice so that Claus and Lavi can escape with the little girl.

Moran is "officially" accepted by the crew of the Sylvana, albeit in a most interesting manner.

Sophia presents the chance for Claus and Lavi to enter the 8-Hour Endurance Race at Horizon Cave. They accept the challenge, so long as the Sylvana mechanics will help them out. At the event, Al is allowed to "pick" the vanship that they must repair and fly for the race. Tatiana and Alistia, however, have a mission during the race. They need to hit a specific point in the race at a specific time. Tatiana expresses her dislike of "amateurs" i.e.: Claus and Lavi, but Alex shuts her up.

Dio and Luciora show up, because Dio is with his sister, Daphne. Dio shows an interest in Claus, who doesn't return the fascination. Dio informs Claus that he is there to fly in the race with him.

While the race is going on, Alex is at an auction to purchase something rare. It turns out to be an EXILE item, and Alex's opening bid on it, is 10,000,000 Claudia. This shocks the man sitting next to him, who just

While Lavie recovers from her injuries on the crashed Silvana, she dreams of her childhood with Claus, whose family moved to Norkia and became neighbors with Lavie's. Their fathers, Hamilcar Valca and Georges Head, immediately became best friends and teamed up as a vanship pilot and navigator. Claus's mother, Justina, took care of Lavie as if she was her own daughter. Valca and Head taught their children to fly a vanship and assigned them mock courier missions. Lavie recalls her father's two friends, a male vanship pilot and a female navigator, but cannot remember their names. One day, Valca and Head received an assignment to cross the Grand Stream to deliver a peace proposal to Disith and left with their two friends. However, Valca and Head lost their lives in the attempt, and Justina died not long after. In a separate dream, Alex Row sees the two vanships in the Grand Stream. After they were orphaned, Claus and Lavie began training to fly a vanship. They were eventually forced to sell their house to save the vanship and began training for courier missions. When Lavie finally awakens, she finds herself crying from the memories. Dio and Alister finally locate Claus and Tatiana near the field of Disith migration capsules. Claus is reunited with Lavie and informs her that their hometown of Norkia has fallen to Disith.

Sophia arrives at Norkia to parley with Disith commander Nestor Messina and reveals to him a copy of the peace offer lost in the Grand Stream ten years earlier. As a gesture of goodwill, Disith supplies Anatoray with a map of the Grand Stream's air currents and a recording of Exile's acoustic signature. Mullin decides to rejoin the musketeer squad and meets the female Disith musketeer, who introduces herself as Dunya Scheer. They are informed that the capture attempt of battleship Claudia units will occur on the Guild's Covenant Day, when 17-year-old youths pledge their allegiance to the Maestro. Before the Silvana leaves dock, Claus, Lavie, and Alvis say goodbye to Mullin. The formal alliance between Anatoray and Disith is signed at Sophia's coronation as Empress. Claus, Tatiana, Dio, and Lucciola arrive ahead of the Silvana to send congratulations, but Delphine's ship appears from the clouds above and rains down rose petals as a declaration of war. Dio, realizing that he has been found by his sister, panics and flies his vanship erratically. When Alex sees Delphine's ship above the site of the coronation ceremony, he immediately orders that it be destroyed, but his crew refuses to comply for fear of killing Sophia.

When Claus and Dio return to the Silvana, the crew is missing. When they go to search the bridge, they find that Delphine has captured Alvis and the ship. Tatiana and Alister sneak a transport carrying Sophia back to the Urbanus. Alex comes out of hiding to attack Delphine but is defeated by Cicada. Delphine takes Dio back to the Guild along with Claus, Alvis, and Alex, and orders that Exile be secured before they leave. On the Urbanus, Vincent promises Sophia that he will recapture the Silvana. When they return to the Guild, Dio is taken to prepare for the Rite of the Covenant. Delphine indulges in the world's rarest delicacies at dinner, causing Claus to become upset about her disregard of the hardships of the people of Anatoray and Disith. Dio is reunited with Claus and Alvis, but they find that his personality has changed and he no longer recognizes them as friends.