Battle Scars, Part 4

« ROM #14 backup story
"Tales of the Solstar Order Battle Scars, Part Four"
Publisher	IDW Publishing, Ted Adams
Published in	ROM #14
First published	November 1, 2017
Cover date	September 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 conclude their debate.

Synopsis

Fy-Laa stands witness as Verdulun-5 prepares to consume Rom. The Elonian is not out yet however, unleashing the energies of his Neutralizer across his entire body to slay the tentacles holding him as he realizes the truth. When Verdulun-5 assimilated the Dire Wraiths, it removed their lust for violence but not the desire for conquest. The powerful attack has cleared Fy-Laa's mind as well but only for a moment. Fy-Laa admits that he was wrong about Verdulun-5 but tragically reveals he is now bound to it and cannot leave. Soon the uni-mind will reclaim him but he begs Rom to aid him in destroying the planet before it can spread its infection to the rest of the galaxy. Rom mournfully agrees and says goodbye to his oldest friend promising to honor his last wish of never again letting the Wraiths corrupt a beautiful world.

In high orbit, Rom says a final goodbye to Fy-Laa as he unleashes the full power of his Neutralizer before he streaks off noting there was another casualty that day beyond Verdulun-5 and Fy-Laa. After being forced to abandon and slay his oldest friend, Rom of Elonia is now dead. Rom the Space Knight is all that remains.

Later, a Dire Wraith spacecraft arrives in orbit around the remains of Verdulun-5 and its tractor beam tows in Fy-Laa's intact head. Though the Wraith Sorcerer within had come to try and assert control over Verdulun-5, intact pieces of Space Knight armor are a far greater prize.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Space Knights	Dire Wraiths
Fy-Laa (2) Rom (3)	Verdulun-5 (1) Wraith Sorcerer (4)

Notes

Continuity notes

• As we long suspected, the severed Space Knight arm that Darby Mason appropriated once belonged to Fy-Laa. Not only do we have confirmation of this, we know see they also claimed Fy-Laa's head and that what appears to be his thigh also survived.
• Rom's unwillingness to destroy Earth is revealed to stem from his honoring of Fy-Laa's final wishes.
• The Dire Wraiths have been trying to acquire Space Knight armor since the annual.

Errors

• Put simply, it is extremely unlikely that Fy-Laa's body parts could have survived total planetary destruction so intact.