To say the Rachelle's were inventive and cruel with their tasks would've been an understatement. The moment Sophia left her creative writing seminar, a series of message began circulating around campus. Seventeen freshmen in her sorority were subjected to individual hazing rituals, and forced to publicize them to everyone. Four underwent bukkake extravaganzas, while others enjoyed other varying sexual depravities.
Chloe Dangle shared a video as well, one several minutes long. Sophia didn't have any time to watch it, but she didn't need too. The first image on the screen was of her best friend with her arms behind her back and her chest arched forward. Her bare breasts was in full view, with brand new piercings for each of her crimson cherrys. They were silver studs linked with a dangling chain.
Strangely enough, Chloe was awkwardly smiling. A new message popped on her screen. Joscelyn Luca had messaged Sophia directly that there were special orders for her to review when she finished with class. Sophia would find them in her dormitory.
"Great…" Sophia swallowed. She scrolled through the other videos quickly, just to mentally prepare herself for what may be coming for her. Nothing seemed beyond the pale, other than Chloe's piercings. Whatever waited for her, Sophia adopted a passive attitude. There was no point in freaking out over it, she needed to stay focused on her next class.
She strolled from the center of Literature to the History building complex. The History building was a single story compound. There was just enough time for her to enjoy the park on the way before rushing through the main doors.
Barely an hour later she was engrossed in her next lecture, and then competing amongst her fellow students in the Military Tactics Seminar.
The game was called 'Strategic Unit Command and Control', but the students simply referred to it as SUCC. It certainly wasn't what Sophia expected when she first arrived at her Military Tactics class, and its relative seminars. The game took centerstage around the instructor's guided lessons, and swallowed most of the grade value.
Military Tactics had grown into a unique experience, one that strangely attracted Sophia. She looked over the wargaming table, at the vast collection of miniatures and war maps available to her. Small tokens represented army groups, vital infrastructure, and key objectives. Other tables were arranged for when two armies engaged one another, where the terrain was key and the rules even more complex. Sophia understood the big picture, but struggled to cope with individual squad, or small unit, tactics.
The class was broken up into some thirty groups, each containing eight students. These eight students then organized campaign theaters. Each student was asked to choose from a variety of military factions, and were then given a city on the war map. Each war map was made up of eight cities, one for each of the competitors, and several dozen territories in-between. The entire table was laid out for them in intricate detail. Some of the areas represented different types of terrain. Jungle, woodlands, and plains made up most of it this particular board.
Sophia had never even seen a jungle before, and couldn't help but study every inch of detail with fascination. The idea that such places could exist outside the wall took her breath away. Only a few territories were made up of snow and tundra's, another oddity that Sophia hadn't experienced before. The idea that there were places where snow didn't melt, but remained for months on end, was truly frightening.
As for the factions, Sophia opted for one called the 'American Grimwald Legion'. She had no idea what it stood for until reading the associated codex. Apparently it represented a northern collective of states belonging to the old United States of America, along with some territories belonging to a place called Canadia.
According to the codex, it was one of the most industrialized and highly organized military factions in the later years before the Long Night. Reading further, Sophia learned that this collective formed the so called 'Legion' to suppress wide spread civil unrest within its own boundaries, and would always struggle to keep any semblance of peace within its borders.
Next to her sat a freshmen belonging to the Chloe Institute, a young girl with a stern face named Trixi Cambridge. Her uniform was a spandex one piece with a boob window to show off an abundance of cleavage. Her own army 'The Aspenian Collective' teased Sophia's borders, but had yet to make the plunge.
"You should be careful," Sophia warned her prodding neighbor. "You don't have the points to lose."
Trixi simply nodded with a sly grin, her fingers dancing over the board as if willing to play with fate. It wasn't her turn to make such a decision, but her stoic demeanor meant she had already made her choice.
The game had a point system. At the start Sophia was restricted to a rather large sum of points to begin with in order to construct an army for the campaign. As the army had a fixed amount of starting points, she had to be careful, both in how she maintained her fake army and how she waged it.
The game itself was simple, Sophia and the seven others would wage war to conquer the board. Strategy was key; how they utilized the land routes, and managed their resource flow tested their soldiers moral and competency. Sometimes it was better to circumvent the established railway and road system entirely to carve new paths through the terrain to their intended goals. There were numerous possibilities, all of which came with a cost. There were so many layers of rules, not to mention the air war which Sophia utterly failed at, that one mistake was enough to potentially lose everything…unless one was good at stirring chaos.
When Sophia came to the class six months ago they had just finished their first cycle of games, she wasn't able to participate until the second round. Naturally this put her grade's in jeopardy. When Sophia started in the second round she nearly lost everything in the first couple of sessions. In order to survive, she had to resort to sabotage tactics. Things got so out of control, it eventually created new opportunities for her to salvage her position from last to fifth place. It at least moved her up a whole letter grade, enough to consider passing.
The third series of games began only a week ago, and already Sophia was nervous. The armies changed every time, and so too did the teams and board. It made things unpredictable.
Sophia's chosen army held a lot of heavy vehicles, and marshaled some truly bizarre units by today's standards. Floating tanks, and heavily armored infantry that reminded her of knights from a fairy tale but layered in smooth armor, made up the backbone of her forces.
The army required a lot of resources to maintain, and thus Sophia's opening moves were to capture a trio of territories to the south, each rich in oil and iron. She found herself embroiled in a lengthy conflict with Max who played a faction far more tailored for rapid assaults. Apparently fate had ruled them to be rivals in this game. His focus on her made the effort grueling, meanwhile Sophia had to keep half her army in reserve in case her neighbor to the north, ruled by Trixi, wanted to prey on her own city.
Each class session would end after participating in three phases. Each could take hours if one was still learning the rules. Even though this was simply a minor study for her, Sophia found herself more consumed with it than her actual major.
Sophia struggled at first, and lost a good chunk of her army by mistake before learning how to use its strengths accordingly. The only way to recuperate her loses was to wait until the next gaming session, when a small surplus of reinforcement would be provided. Until then she did her best to manage her war against Max's 'Stonewall Confederacy', and bide her time.
Until she took over the territories to the south, her fake nation would struggle to wage any further campaign. It left her vulnerable.
Sophia would learn later that the faction she chose was one of the most difficult to start out with, but once it gained some momentum the Legion could be unstoppable.
Max's army 'The Stonewall Confederacy' was quite the opposite. It was easy to maintain, requiring few resources. It also started out with an abundance of foot soldiers accompanied by light artillery. As if that wasn't enough, their citizen ranger units were elite and could move quickly from one region to the next. At the start of the game, he didn't need to concentrate his armies in lengthy campaigns, instead he could spread out and seize vital objective sectors while hassling everyone on the board. His cheap infantry was specialized with tying everyone down.
In order to deny Sophia with the vital resources she needed, Max sent some of his meatier army groups to pin her in place. He could take the losses, and replenish them far faster than she ever could, which made the slog perilous.
"You're an ass," Sophia scoffed in frustration. She leaned forward so that the bare curvature of her breasts could rest along the plywood boundary over the table edge.
"It's just a game," Max answered. His demeanor calming and pleasant in response to her rage.
Just a game. Far from it. Sophia chewed her lip instead of lashing back. The only way to get an A in this class was to win these war games, or at least make it to top three. It was more than a game, it was part of her scholastic achievement. The seniors had assigned her this class, with the expectation that she would at least maintain a B average. How could she do that if she was losing over and over again?
Sophia sighed and plotted her next move carefully. She knew Max was eyeing her suspiciously. But he was only one of her problems.
The other players sat around the table. Rocco with his scavenger like raiders had reached the doorstep of Marija's territory. He seemed far more interested in Marija's quirky smile and fresh tattoo inked along her upper abdomen, marking the space between and around her supple mounds, than playing the game. Marija, who belonged to the Lyra Institute, wore a tight fitting tank top that only came down to her nipples, and she was happy to milk Rocco's attention away from the board.
Nearby, Jazlyn of the Maryjane Institute was engrossed in her own war with Reimund Reiss. So far Reimund was winning, but he had expended a lot of resources, and overextended his front line. Jazlyn, wearing her sororities sleek gown that fully exposed her back, eyed him warily.
"I'll tell you what." Max sat down and leaned back in his leather chair. The session was about to end, and Sophia's last turn was slowly approaching. "I'll leave you alone next session if you let me motorboat you."
"Only that…really?" Sophia groaned. It was a childish tease, one that garnered no attraction what so ever from herself. Why the fraternity boys liked to rub their faces in her chest was beyond her. Rolling her eyes, Sophia risked a subtle glance towards his gym shorts and noticed a bulge. Lust clouded her vision, and her heart began to race. Unable, or unwilling, to stifle the temptation, Sophia leaned over to whisper into Max's ear. Her voice was an erotic melody. "I'll let you into my dorm, if you get the f—ck out of my territory."
"Really?" His voice croaked.
Sophia had been celibate for far too long. Her loins ached, every part of her yearned for a mans touch. The way he looked at her only fueled her desire. She had withdrawn from such pleasures since enrolling, the risks far to grave. Yet even with the contraceptives no longer in her system, Sophia was young and adventurous and simply couldn't take it anymore.
As long as he pulled out in time, it should be ok. Sophia convinced herself while running her hand along the length of his shaft. Burning hot arousal grew stiff under her touch.
"I won't make the offer again." Judging by the way he struggled under her spell, she wouldn't have to.