Battle Scars, Part 3

« ROM #13 backup story »
"Tales of the Solstar Order Battle Scars, Part Three"
Publisher	IDW Publishing, Ted Adams
Published in	ROM #13
First published	September 16, 2017
Cover date	August 2017
Written by	Chris Ryall & Christos Gage
Pencils by	Guy Dorian, Sr.
Inks by	Sal Buscema
Colors by	Alessandra Alexakis
Letters by	Shawn Lee
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Editorial assistant	David Mariotte

Rom and Fy-Laa continue their debate.

Synopsis

Fy-Laa hovers mid air as the blobs of Verdulun-5 assume humanoid forms as Rom begs him to fight the assimilation but Fy-Laa finds it too beautiful to resist stating that through the Space Knights, Verdulun-5 can spread across the galaxy. When Rom inquires how, Fy-Laa blasts him point blank with his Neutralizer. Rom tumbles away and the ground begins assimilating him as he begs his friend to see that Verdulun-5 is a planet sized virus. As he disappears beneath the surface, Fy-Laa flies overhead and extols the value of the uni-mind...

...all the motivation that Rom needs to burst free while defiantly announce his individuality tackling his friend into the upper atmosphere of the planet. Much to Rom's horror, his Analyzer reads that the Wraith infection has spread to Fy-Laa but Fy-Laa has no desire to remove it and sends Rom hurtling back to the surface. Again Rom begs Fy-Laa to resist the influence of the hive mind. Fy-Laa's response is a javelin of Neutralizer energy through Rom's shoulder. The Elonian collapses to ground, as Fy-Laa says that with both Knights' ability to fly unaided through space, Verdulun-5 can carry its uni-mind to all living beings.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Space Knights	Dire Wraiths
Fy-Laa (2) Rom (3)	Verdulun-5 (1)

Notes

Continuity notes

• Rom refers to the ore that forms Space Knight armor being found on Elonia.

Real world references

• Fy-Laa paraphrase the famous line from I Am the Walrus as he describes Verdulun's hive mind.