VanDread

Hibiki Tokai is a third-class citizen who is a parts mechanic. When he boasts to his co-workers that he can and would steal a Vanguard, which is one of the Empire's elite combat vehicles used for defending themselves against the Mejale, he finds himself boxed in by his own words. In order to silence his doubting co-workers, he has to sneak abord the battleship Ikazuchi and find the Vanguard with the marked part on it that makes it his. However, everything doesn't go as planned, as the Ikazuchi takes off for orbit 2 hours ahead of time with Hibiki stranded on board. As if things couldn't get any worse, the Ikazuchi also comes under attack by a group of fearsome women from Mejale - and not just any Mejale women, but pirates! Found out by the Tarak crew and facing execution for being a stowaway, Hibiki comes face to face with a real live woman in the midst of all the fighting, who he immediately runs away from, despite her overly friendly attitude. But the real threat may not come from th

Hibiki finds himself captured by a ship full of women after being abandoned by his fellow citizens, with the exception of two other unlucky men - Bart Garsus, a cowardly, self-proclaimed ""helmsman"" and Duero, a highly educated student who had become a doctor on a whim to stay alive. Things look pretty dire for the men - but while the pirates are deciding about the fate of their new male prisoners, a mysterious enemy begins an attack on them. Now, in a life or death battle, everyone, even the men, must work to escape this new threat. Bart manages to weasel his way into piloting the ship (even though he has no idea how to), and Duero makes use of his medical skills. A despondent Hibiki, left without anything to contribute, feels that he can do nothing to change his pathetic existence - that is, until the vice-commander gives him some words that he will soon not forget...

The threat is past, but the new ship is unstable, leaving the crew baffled at how to operate it. One by one, the men are taken from their cells in order to try to help out with the repairs of the ship. However, there may be no time for lounging around, as Dita and Gascogne go missing on a supply and information-gathering mission, and the ship plunges into a nebula and asteroid field that threatens to tear the ship apart. It's left to the crew to once again work together to overcome their difficulties. In the aftermath, the crew discovers that it will take 270 days to get home, as they have been thrown to a remote part of space. With this new knowledge, the men and women realize that working together is a necessity to get themselves home.

Parfait begins holding a contest to rename the ship, because she feels that the Ikazuchi is a ridiculous and unfashionable name. Meanwhile, Hibiki proves to be a skilled fighter, however he can't seem to ""play well with others"" or be a team player. In order to give him a lesson, Magno tricks him into being reassigned to the supply depot, which is managed by the tough-as-nails, yet highly logical Gascogne. By placing Hibiki in the role of a supply-providing ""stagehand"", Gascogne plans to teach Hibiki the meaning of teamwork, although it may take more than just himself and the Dreads alone to destroy the latest threat from the enemy.

The ship has a new name thanks to Parfet… Nirvana, a name that symbolizes Harmony, Stability, and Joy. Dita still has an interest in the ""alien"" Hibiki, who finds the highly energetic girl annoying and would rather spend time trying to find out more about his Vanguard. Meanwhile, Jura schemes to find a way to unite with Hibiki's Vanguard. The Nirvana then comes across a barren desert planet, where they find a artificial structure that is partially buried in the sand. Hibiki isn't happy when the female pilots start to train on the other Vanguards that are left to go down to the planet's surface - especially when they decide to paint them all sorts of ridiculous colors. Despite Hibiki's unhappiness, the Vanguards go down to the surface and find themselves in trouble - but getting out of the situation may be the only way to find out what exactly the mysterious enemy's motivation is.

Meia is in trouble! Seriously injured in a battle, and having some 'personal issues' as a result, she is facing quite a struggle for her life. The other pilots do not handle the idea that they may have to replace Meia well, and Jura is unable to command the Dreads in her place. Duero, Parfait, and Paiway struggle to save Meia's life as Meia has flashbacks to her turbulent and troubled past. The latest enemy attack may hinder their ability to bring her back from the brink of death, however, and it is left to Hibiki, of all people, to come up with a plan that just might save them all.

A very vivid and horrifying nightmare plagues not only Hibiki, but also Dita, Meia, and Jura as well. While they struggle to figure out the meaning of this strange dream, a mysterious pod appears which the Harvest fleet seems to have a vested interest in. Deciding to capture the pod, the Nirvana launches its pilots to retrieve it - but when the events of the nightmare repeat themselves, Hibiki and the others must do whatever they can to make sure that their nightmare doesn't turn into a chilling reality. The contents of the pod, meanwhile, may prove to make things more interesting on the Nirvana than ever.

The message inside the pod that Misty was frozen in contain something that may be of use to the crew of the Nirvana, but the password proves to be a brick wall that BC can't seem to pass. Even worse is the fact that BC's attempts to crack the password shut the ship down, leaving it completely defenseless to an enemy attempt to tow the Nirvana away to be harvested. The Dreads outside have to stop the enemy, but they have to do it without Dita and Hibiki, who are stuck in a stopped elevator with Ezra, who has just began to go into labor!

The Nirvana arrives at yet another planet tampered with by the Harvest fleet, as its inhabitants are unable to survive the air and have all caught a disease that is fatal, with no cure. On a mission of mercy, Duero and the rest of the crew stop at the planet in order to ease people's suffering and help them, and Bart befriends a little girl named Shirley, also bedridden with the disease. However, yet another enemy attack threatens the crew's only attempt to create a clean environment for the inhabitant's babies to be born in, and a reluctant yet determined Bart must leave Shirley to fight for her life while he fights to defend the planet from attack.

The Nirvana comes upon another Mission, though the inhabitants are decidedly hostile and use a law of ""take what you want by force"" in order to survive. Hand to hand combat is the only way to prove the Nirvana crew's strength, and BC, as the highest ranking officer on the away team, chooses to fight in order to prove the Nirvana's good will. The enemy, however, isn't about to stop for a simple fight, and the Mission becomes infested by Harvest fleet units. With energy weapons useless against these new enemies, Barnette's antique gun selection using old fashioned ""bullets"" may be the only thing to keep the Mission from being harvested, although an old acquaintance may make an appearance as well...

Another Harvest fleet mother ship has come to attempt to attack the Nirvana, and the crew, this time, sets out confidently to destroy it using the same methods as before. However, a new form of enemy beats back the attack of the Dreads and Vandreads, and after Jura suffers serious injury, Gascogne is forced to pull rank and push for a retreat, towing an unwilling and furious Barnette from the battlefield. Jura's injury and condition cause Barnette and Hibiki to bristle and Gascogne's seemingly cold and calm attitude, and a heated argument ensues. Hibiki and Barnette find, however, the Gascogne knows much more about the pain of losing someone than anyone else, and that staying calm is the only way to win battles. And Gascogne is willing to teach everyone that lesson, at any cost...

The second attack on the Harvest mother ship has failed, although now Hibiki and the others have a ray of hope in the form of a way to penetrate the mother ship's defenses. Forming a plan around Parfait's limited ability to stop the machine-controlled Harvest fleet, Hibiki and the others launch one last, desperate attack on the mother ship, using Pyoro to upload a virus directly from the mother ship's core. Now the Vandreads must defend the little NAVI robot as he struggles to do his job - but the new enemy form is not far behind...