Reinforcements, Part 5

	; Cover may not accurately reflect contents of issue.
	"Reinforcements, Part 5"
Publisher	IDW Publishing,Ted Adams
First published	April 12,2017
Cover date	March 2017
Written by	Chris Ryall&Christos Gage
Colors by	Alessandra Alexakis
Letters by	Shawn Lee
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Editorial assistant	David Mariotte

Rom's clash with Orphion and Livia comes to a climax.

Synopsis

Below: TheWraith Sorcerersdetect the death of theWraith Soldiersmuch to their alarm. TheAbsencehowever overrules their desire to head to the surface to fight theSpace Knightsas it claims they have an unexpected ally:Romthe Space Knight!

Above: Again failing to appeal toLiviaandOrphion,Rom tackles the latter before engaging him in (rather futile) melee combat only for Orphion to simply wrap him in his tail once again. At Orphion's instruction, Livia reluctantly unleashes a barrage on Rom. Much to her horror however, Rom does not move afterwards but she nonetheless joins Orphion in adding her energy to destroyEarth.No sooner has she agreed does the Absence make itself known by phasing his arm through Livia's chest draining her energy. Recognizing the legends of the Absence, Orphion attacks in an attempt to avenge his fallen brethren only for his attacks to phase through the creature. As he slowly begins to drain Orphion's energy, Rom attacks from behind and fires hisNeutralizerwithin the being, dissipating it for the time being. After Orphion thanks Rom, he highlights the dilemma they find themselves in. Orphion wants to use their energy to destroy Earth while Rom wants to resuscitate Livia and both tasks require the energy of at leasttwoSpace Knights.

InPawtucket,Darbyhas broughtRuanback to hergrandmother's who insists on seeing his true form. Ruan complies and reverts his head to its true form. Though shocked, the elderly woman listens to Ruan's desire to end the war and excuses herself...to collect a suitcase filled with firearms which she insists Darby and Ruan take with them.

On the oil platform, the stalemate continues. Rom's energy is insufficient to revive Livia while Orphion continues to send his down the drill shaft. Though his Neutralizer energy is insufficient to destroy the core, it slays the Wraith Sorcerers below. Reforming, the Absence can only smile at the energy Orphion is giving the Wraiths. Rom then lays into Orphion calling his blind adherence to Solstar protocol an excuse not to feel claiming that if he follows through on destroying Earth, Rom will hold him to account for letting Livia die and saying he is no longer a Space Knight or even a man. Heeding Rom's words, Orphion adds his energy reviving Livia. Alas, the female Knight is not grateful beliving her own life expendable in the face of containing the cancer that is theDire Wraiths.Orphion disagrees and says they can always destroy Earth later. Until such a time comes, Rom now has Orphion's attention who is prepared to listen to Rom's case about why Earth should be spared asking Rom to guide him to the spots that make the planet so special.

Deep below, the Absence reflects that though this was not the promised day it is coming and the Space Knights only delay the inevitable. ThePresencewill awaken.

Featured characters

Characters initalic textappear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Space Knights	Dire Wraiths	Humans
Rom(8) Orphion(9) Livia(10)	Wraith priests (1-6) Absence(7) Oil rig workers (11) Ruan Sablik(13)	Anne Mason(12) Darby Mason(14)

Quotes

"You...should have been a lawyer. "

—Orphionreacts to Rom's "The Reason You Suck" speech

Notes

Continuity notes

Earlier issues seemed out of sync as to whether the Absence was male or female. This issue reveals those dialogues to be abouttwosuper Wraiths: the male Absence and the female Presence, the latter of whom is presumably the pitch-black Wraith-looking shape seen on the last page ofissue #6.
As said three issues prior, Darby's grandmother sawgiant robotson television. Upon her revival, Livia fears the Cybertronians will arrive to investigate and stop Earth's destruction. Livia's encounter with Cybertronians would be explored inRom vs. Transformers: Shining Armor.
On the outside shot of the house of Darby's grandmother, there is a poster for "Friends of our Enemies", the cultKagan Knightoversaw in issue #7.

Other notes

Solicited for release in March, this issue arrives a month late in April.
Dire Wraiths are capable of partially transforming, in this case, Ruan reverts his head to his natural Wraith form while the rest of him remains human.