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BATTLECORPS




ECHOES OF
DISGRACE
By Steven Mohan, Jr.
BATTLECORPS Echoes of Disgrace тАв Page 2


The House of the Absent Sun
Matar, Draconis Combine
29 June 2825

Some dark creature of the night slashed at Junshi Ukawa with
sharp claws, sending molten white streamers of agony shoot-
ing up through his body. Ukawa bent away from the pain, tried
to scrabble clear, but the thing was on him in a second, all black
scales and gaping jaws and needle-sharp talons.
тАЬPlease,тАЭ Ukawa whispered.
The thing cocked its elongated head, regarding him with a single
unblinking eye.
Then, quick as lightning, it bent, tearing through UkawaтАЩs ten-
der belly with those razor talons, snatching at the bloody mess of
UkawaтАЩs guts, and squeezing.
Ex-Tai-i Junshi Ukawa of the Unproductive Regiment woke with
a gasp, his heart fluttering in his chest like a wounded quail, his
body slick with sweat, unable to quite remember the night terror.
Maybe he just didnтАЩt want to.
тАЬAnother nightmare?тАЭ asked the little girl sitting on his cot.
тАЬShut up,тАЭ snapped Ukawa.
He managed to force himself into a sitting position against the
brutal protests of his muscles. He had taken to sleeping on the
cold stone floor ever since theyтАЩd put the girl in with him, leaving
her the cot.
(It didnтАЩt make much sense, because the girl never seemed to
sleep, but then it was just one of many things in UkawaтАЩs tenuous
existence that didnтАЩt make much sense. In the end, he let her have
the cot anyway because it seemed like the decent thing to do.)
Sleeping on the cold, hard stone left him aching and bent. It was
like taking a beating every single night, which was why, Ukawa
supposed, the guards had put the little girl in his cell. It mustтАЩve
greatly amused them to torment him without even lifting a hand.
тАЬThe nightmares wonтАЩt go away until you talk to someone,тАЭ said
the little girl.
BATTLECORPS Echoes of Disgrace тАв Page 3


тАЬI said shut up!тАЭ Ukawa screamed.