Kalama and Ta Rahkshi

Kalama watched amused as the pirate crew ran to join in the fray with Tokain. "Well... that was unexpected. Come on ladies. Let's go figure out how to open the other door while Tokain and our new guests play Whack-a-Guardian." With that he herded his Marines to the other side of the chamber. "Does he need help?" "Tokain is perfectly capable of handling himself. In fact I think our new guests may have evened the odds for that creature since Tokain has flattened bigger easily. He likes a challenge."

OOC: Ah but the Akaku would be rather worthless against arcane puzzles now wouldn't it? IC:TEMPLE OF WISDOM CHAMBERTEMPLE OF WISDOMPO-WAHI, 2322 HRS "Hmmmmm..." Kalama stared at the platforms on the floor. A central one was raised above three others arranged in a triangle around it. The three were colored red, yellow and blue. They were also covered in body parts and dried blood. "Even the correct path can be booby trapped." Kalama had said a few chambers earlier while examining a wall that blocked their path, only to narrowly avoid getting his eye gouged out as he found the correct switch to open the wall and a long spike suddenly slid forward coming within millimeters of braining him before it retracted and the door opened. "Case in point." Only Tokain found the pun amusing. Before them was one of the arcane in nature puzzles Kalama had said they would find. Yuni had come close to finding out just how lethal it was. Tokain had snatched her from the blue colored platform just as a stone column crashed down attempting to crush the Marine. They were milling about nervously in the room eying everything with suspicion. Only Tokain and Kalama seemed relaxed. "Lesse... there's no blood on the central dais so it's obviously safe. The amount of gore seems to increase from least to greatest in yellow, blue, red. Several people were close to cracking this thing..." Kalama stepped onto the central platform. The three platforms suddenly glowed, each one emitting a musical note all at the same time. They pulsed slightly as if waiting for something. "Ah, okay so Yellow..." He hopped onto the yellow platform which emitted a low note and glowed when he came in contact with it. "Blue..." He leaped over the central dais landing on the blue platform. This note was slightly higher pitched as if increasing in tone. "Re-waaaait a minute... " He eyed the red platform suspiciously. "Something's off. If it's that easy then it's TOO easy..." He stared at the red platform for a minute, then at the yellow. It was then that something caught his eye. Glancing over at the door he noticed for the first time the fire braziers on ether side of the door. "Well Mata-Nui strike me down! Ingenious!" Kalama rapidly hopped over each color platform. Each time the tone would get higher pitched. Once he hit the eighth note he jumped back onto the central dais. The yellow, then blue, then red platforms lit up in succession as if celebrating. Finally they all sounded once. The gate opened. "Brilliant work Professor." Tokain grinned as he lumbered into the next room. The gate closed and locked after everyone had entered into the next room. This one was a rather large and open room. Tokain paused. "Ya hear that?" He reached back grabbing his sword blade. Kalama paused, "Yeah." The Marines and Tanuka tensed. Kalama looked across the large room to the exit on the other side. "Sounds like you're up Tokain." "It's about time." The Stone Toa grinned as he advanced into the room. Slowly he turned as he reached the center of the room walking backwards. He paused, feeling the guardian of this room watching him. Suddenly a giant shadow dropped from the ceiling. It was spider-like in nature. The ends of it's eight legs tapered with a long sharp claw. It's ten eyes all moving independent of each other locked onto Tokain as he turned to face the creature and narrowed as if glaring at the Toa. Two tentacle like appendages snaked out from somewhere on it's second body segment. It's mandibles opened up and it's mouth seemed to extend outward with long sharp teeth dripping with saliva. The shriek it emitted was enough to drown out Tanuka's terrified scream. Tokain waved his hand in front of his face. "Phew... ugly AND with mornin' breath..." Yanking the large blade from his back he swung it over his head and it landed with a crash causing a small crater where the tip had hit the ground. "Guess I'll have to put you out of your misery then..." OOC: You didn't serious think traps were the only thing down here did ya?

OOC: Toa of Water, Nuva build, taller then average standing on equal height with average male Toa, Sky blue Kanohi Hau, dark blue torso, feet and hands, light grey arms and legs, red Fikou tattoo on left 'collarbone' head pointing up. IC: Yorlonda's smile darkened, it along with the throaty chuckle she made looked and sounded positively sinister causing her renegades to shiver. "So the brat took the bait after all..." she sounded positively gleeful as she tapped her fingers together. "Marveloussssssss." "YOU!" she snapped at a Matoran. "Go tell the archivist to take a break! He'll need it... " "By your will Mi'lady!" Yorlonda then looked at Lohkar up and down, one finger tapping her teeth slowly and deliberately. Finally she tsked and waved her hand dismissively. "Chase them if you want but I doubt you'll truly catch them. If you do manage to live long enough you're welcome to almost anything you find..." at this point she was once again within Lohkar's personal space, hand around his neck. "But the Kanohi... is mine..." she whispered touching her forehead to his. "...and I will destroy you if you touch it..." She wandered off. "Get them out of my sight."

POW! A Toa of Earth who was serving as Yorlonda's honor guard smashed his fist into Lohkar's face. "You don't speak to Lady Yorlonda until spoken to... Pirate!" He snarled. "Boulder!" The Toa stiffened. "No need to go abusing guests in my presence. Help him up and dust him him off!" "Yes Mi'lady..." Boulder picked up Lohkar putting him back on his feet and handed him his Arthron. Yorlonda smiled at Lokhar as she swayed with each step circling Lohkar. "Well, well, well... Lohkar the pirate. I see those rumors of you taking the sudden plunge into the sudden swell, 10 fathoms deep, on the road to Karzhani floating around were completely, and utterly false." She sighed. "The men should know better than to spread lies though my ranks like that. Don't you think Boulder?" "Of course Mi'lady." "Mi'lady... if I may speak?" "Speak." "This pirate claims he saw Ga-Koroan Marines sneak into a back door into the Temple." Yorlonda stiffened. "Marines." She said coldly. She looked into Lohkar's eyes as if daring him to lie to her. "You. Saw. MARINES?!?!" Boulder moved to crush the pirate. "Wait!" Boulder paused and then backed off. Yorlonda stepped closer until she was inches away from Lokhar. "Marines..." She said slowly. A finger came up and tapped Lokhar on the "nose" daintily with each word. "You. Saw. Marines." She slid her hand down his mask and cupped his chin tenderly lifting it slightly. Her thumb brushing against his lips. "Was one of these Marines... oddly colored? Wasn't completely blue? Male? Wearing a bandana? Was he traveling with a rather large Toa of Stone wearing a very heavy looking sword?"

OOC: Now who doesn't know their naval history Ghosthands? "Scuttlebutt"=Rumor. The story you just heard was probably told to him by a friend of a friend of a friend who got it from this old guy who may have heard it from someone too drunk to remember his own name. Of course it was going to be wrong! XD 1. MY characters didn't CHARGE RECKLESSLY though the corridor after exiting the sand dune. It's much easier to avoid something like that when you're moving slowly. 2. Luck. Long story short for my guys, Kali goofed, Kalama found another entrance underground, the Marines narrowly evaded Yorlonda's goons and are examining a large door. IC: "Whoa, whoa, whoa? Temple of Wisdom? I thought this was a Toa's Suva." Nuraka said. Tanuka was busy sketching the artwork. "It was THOUGHT to be a Suva. It might still be." She went on to explain. "Years ago in 468, the Red Star revealed a prophecy regarding a temple dedicated to Wisdom. However it was translated out as a BEING of Wisdom. Not the ideal itself. Which was odd. In 493 the phenomena repeated again only this time instead of Wisdom, it was Valor. But still a BEING of Valor. Not the ideal once again. In 875, Turaga Vakama received a vision of the future that supposedly contained the two beings. According to what he saw, there were two Toa. One of Wisdom, one of Valor. They were engaged in battle with some kind of... well... monster on top of the bodies of hundreds of Toa. The monster had slain every single last Toa alive and only these two were left. Then they faded away as if they didn't even exist. After wards the monster was celebrating on top of the bodies of dead Toa, Turaga, and Matoran while a map of Mata-Nui burned in the background signifying that Mata-Nui itself would burn." Tanuka paused to brush some of the dust away from the door before continuing. "It's believed that what Vakama saw were two futures. One in which these last Toa of Valor and Wisdom were the last hope of preventing that monstrosity from continuing on to destroy Mata-Nui, and the other where nether Toa existed and the monster went unchecked. No one is sure which future is fated to come true.If this truly is the Temple of Wisdom and their Suva lies beyond this door... then maybe Wisdom is alive somewhere... but where? More importantly... how do we get this door open?" Tanuka yelped as the door started lifting before her. Tokain grunted as he lifted the door easily, his Pakari glowing as it lended him the extra strength he needed to lift the gate. "Ladies... first... Princess..." he grunted. As the group proceeded into the temple, Tokain maneuvered so that he was inside the room before letting the gate drop. Kalama looked around. "Ah, perfect. This is the maintenance tunnels entrance. This should take us right past the outer chambers into the maw of the Sanctum." Tokain grinned. "Perfect. Right to the fun part." ------- The Matoran's eyes got wide when he processed what Lohkar had said. There were Ga-Koroan Marines here?!?! He cursed. Yorlonda was not going to be happy to learn about this. She was expecting her old rivals to show up and do the work of getting inside the temple for her. The Matoran who'd run off came bounding back and paused next to his cohort muttering something. Nodded the Matoran looked up at Lohkar. "Lady Yorlonda would like to speak with you. Follow me."

OOC: I take it you've never seen an Indiana Jones movie Legolover-361. You NEVER charge recklessly into an ancient temple like that. If Ghosthands hadn't ninja'd I'd probably have had you poisoned or something even more dastardly. The Air Toa paused and leaned down to whisper into one of the Matoran's ear. The Matoran's eyes narrowed. "So, the notorious Lohkar, Scourge of the Eastern Waters. Scuttlebutt was you and Nakari the Hook had it out over who controlled the Steam Delta in Ta-Wahi. You look good for someone who was pinned to the deck by blades in all four limbs as your boat went down in flames." He paused for Lohkar's reply before asking, "So what business would a supposedly dead swashbuckler like yourself want with our fair Lady?"

The amount of money being poured into banks and corporations that are about to fold regardless. Hey Congress! Where's my 500 Billion Dollar Bailout?!?! If I can't buy things because you're hoarding all my money then the economy is going to tank regardless of what you do! For those of you who are lost, here's a basic economics class for you. Money is injected into the cycle via the Federal Bank. The Federal Bank lends this money to commercial banks like Bank of America or your local hometown bank. Those banks then lend the money out to consumers like you and I as well as Corporations with which to finance our spending. A portion of this goes back into the banks as a part of paying back the loan and interest. In order to tighten the screws on the economy, the Federal bank raises interest rates. This causes the commercial banks to stop borrowing as nobody wants to pay those high rates. However to recoup those losses, the local banks raise interest rates which in turn brings the cycle of spending between consumers and corporations and businesses to a slowdown as everyone is hoarding money. This is a recession. Now when the Federal banks feel the need to loosen the screws to stimulate the economy they lower interest rates which then causes the opposite of a recession to happen. It's a very rickety balancing act. In the case of what happened recently. Corporations and Banks have gotten money with which to keep themselves afloat. They were meant to loan this money out and were encouraged to spend so the money to get to the consumers who in turn would spend and keep the cycle going. That did not happen. Instead the banks hoarded the money refusing to inject fresh blood into the cycle and what little money left was being leeched out of it. With no money being put into the cycle and all of it being taken out, of course an economic crisis was going to happen. At the risk of losing their money, consumers would take out every penny they had saved. The banks, unable make those payments, would shut down and refuse to give out the money. Corporations and Businesses, with no one to sell to, would fold eventually as there would be no demand for their supply. Now if the Government had bailed out the consumers, here's what I predict would have happened: First all debt would have been paid. That's the root of the problem. With debt hanging over their heads, the consumers would have had no reason to spend. Next they would have started spending on necessities. Once those were taken care of, splurge spending would occur and then we would be back to business as usual. At least that's what I'd do if I got a bailout. Heck I'd even just hand wads of cash out for free because I really would have had no need for it. Come on banks! You don't need all that money and we're going broke out here! If the consumers can't consume then the economy is going to collapse regardless of how much you've hoarded! Of course this brings me to my next point: Jobs. What irks me is that for most jobs, you are required to have a certain number of years of experience in that field before you qualify for jobs. This kind of makes it hard to break into the business as you have have experience to GET experience. Am I the only who who this doesn't make sense to? But more about Job loss. Without a way to earn money, the consumers can't spend. With no revenue, people are laid off. With the economy in the toilet, job loss is skyrocketing. Even Government jobs are not as secure as they once were. Because of this it's a Sellers Market. This means they rack up the requirements to the point where you can't find a job. You see how this vicious cycle repeats once a monkey wrench is thrown in the works? This even isn't the President's fault. I'm serious. In Social Studies we learned that Congress is the body that creates and mandates policies. The President is the one who sees to it that those policies are enforced. If we want to point fingers somewhere, lets point them at Congress. THAT'S where the real problem is.

OOC: The yell, yes, the plume of sand. Not so much. It wasn't that 'vast'. Hope your boys are ready for a fight Ghosthands because I don't think you're going to get to that hole before the response gets there. IC: Kali slapped her hands over her mouth. Stupid! stupid! stupid! "I heard something! It came from over there!" "Oh look at that, incoming." Nala said lightly. Tokain sighed. "Oh well... roll the dice!" He leaped to the same spot where Kalama had vanished under the sands... ...only to also sink through. "Oh great, way to go Helm Major!" Hotu snapped. "How about shutting that air sucker Corporal so I can stick you into that sinkhole too!" Maya snarled. "I'm beginning to think that Maya may have the right idea." Nala mused. "Has everyone gone crazy?!?!" Hotu pulled out her disk. "No actually. How do you think temples get discovered?" "THEN QUIT STANDING AROUND YAKKING MARINES AND GET DOWN THAT HOLE!" Kali barked. "MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" One by one the Ga-Koroan's vanished underground. Kali looked up at the Toa. "Hurry up!" "Are you sure about this?" Tanuka asked. "No! Now get down that hole Tanuka!" Kali kicked her in the back of the knee causing her to stumble over the hole and fall through. After everyone save Kali and Nala had gone down, Kali sheathed her blade. "Don't take too long." She dove headfirst into the depression the rapid movement had caused. Nala turned to face whoever had followed them and winked blowing a kiss in their direction before falling backward and vanishing into the sand just as the first of Yorlonda's goons showed up. "I saw something move!" The Toa of Fire said gesturing to the area. Three matoran, a Toa of Stone, and a Toa of Air gathered arond. The Air Toa glanced around with his Akaku. Spotting Lohkar he pointed. "Intruders! Inform Lady Yorlonda at once!" One of the Matoran took off back to the temple to warn their mistress while the five dashed forward to engage the Pirate's crew. ------- UNKNOWN LOCATION,UNDERGROUND,PO-WAHI, 2312 HRS Nala broke through the dune of sand that had fallen though an obviously constructed opening into a corridor. She tumbled down the rest of the way before launching off and coming to a rest almost weightlessly around the shoulders of Alrin. She grinned at him. "Hiya handsome! Didja misssss me?" Kalama was already before a large door with a lightstone out examining it. He turned to face the group. "Well you lot certainly took your time coming down here." Tokain grinned as the sand flowed off the Stone Toa like water. "Knew we should have taken that left turn at Mt Ihu." Tanuka tried in vain to get the sand off her but it just seemed to stick even worse and turn to mud as she scrubbed at it. "Just leave it." Juno advised the Toa. "Due to your powers you'll just make it worse. Now leave it alone before you scrub yourself raw." The Marines didn't seem bothered to be covered in dust and sand, they seemed to be right at home with it. "Tanuka. Come here." Kalama gestured at the door with his lightstone. "What does it say?" Tanuka was about respond when she saw something else. They were surrounded by the bodies of dead Matoran. Kalama noticed her gaping and looked. "Oh, them. Poor sods Fell in and couldn't get out. Don't worry. Won't happen to us. What's the door say?" He held the stone up to the door. Tanuka was still staring at the bodies. "Tokain can you...?" Tokain gently backhanded Tanuka. "Focus scholar... if you want to avoid ending up like THESE dusty bones. Hur! hur! hur!" Tanuka shook herself and sighed before looking at the door. In the middle of the picture was a Toa in silver surrounded in light. There were Matoran on ether side of the Toa bowing down to them. Above the Toa were seven figures shrouded. Tanuka's mouth flowed soundlessly around untranslated words that surrounded the picture. Finally her eyes got wide and she spoke. "This is the Temple of Wisdom."

OOC: You flatter me Mask. Though remember each Marine has their own tale you can involved yourself in so don't hesitate to strike up a conversation if the mood strikes you. IC:UNEARTHED UNKNOWN TEMPLEPO-WAHI, 2309 HRS Kalama looked at the temple sizing it up from the angle he was at, judging the best way to walk to try and find the secondary way in. Temples as big as these ALWAYS had some other kind of secondary entrance hidden from public eye. "'Lady' Yorlonda, as she calls herself, is similar to Tokain in terms of work." "We both work in artifact reclamation." The stone Toa rumbled. "Only difference is ah get paid to recover artifacts for other people. Yorlonda simply keeps the most valuable ones, usually those arcane in nature, while selling off the more useless pieces for greater sums of money then they're actually worth. But you know how it is. Bury a 5 widget piece of jewelry for over a thousand years and when you dig it up you'll have people offering you 5 million widgets for it and even a few might attempt to have you killed so they can get their hands on a piece of history for free." Kalama shook his head. "Sad, but true. Once I pulled an ordinary jar from a house that had been overgrown for 200 years. 3 assassins attacked me that night working for three different employers hoping to get their hands on whatever I pulled from the swamp to use to impress their friends with. I even found that same jar a month later in some rich Po-Koroan's home when he threw some kind of socialite party and mother was invited to attend. Claimed he'd gotten it from some excursion in Onu-Wahi and that it was used in some Ko-Matoran ritual." Kalama chuckled. "Load of Maha dung the whole crock. I would have called him out on it but mother told me to behave and not make anyone's life difficult that night." Kali gave Kalama a look of shock. "You? Behave?" Kalama gave her an innocent look. "I have no idea what you may be attempting to allude to. I'm my mother's good boy." It was all Kali could do to keep from bursting out laughing at the ridiculous statement and she ended up trying to stifle the coughing fit that overcame her. Juno came back with Nuraka. "No good sir. They're crawling all over the entrance and Yorlonda is with them. They don't look like they've made any headway what so ever so we'll be here all night if we just attempt to wait them out." Juno reported. Lei and Yuni came around at another angle. "Cor dis be wun tuff nut ter crack lad. We'ff scourrred our side and nuffink Oi can see." Maya and Hotu returned. "Nothing on our side ether Commander." Kalama looked around. He then glanced at Nala who suddenly appeared when no one had been looking. "Status?" "Whoever is following us that was on that boat behind us is still on our trail. They know where we were going but they're still shadowing us quite clumsily I might add." Kalama frowned. "Resourceful buggers. I think they pulled something out of thin air if they're still follow us because I KNOW we executed that landing perfectly or we wouldn't have even gotten this close. Yorlonda may not be nobility but she does have money and she and her goons are no joke." Giving the temple one last examination before starting to walk forward he said, "We'd better keep moving. If they're as clumsy as you say they are Nala it's only a matter of time before they get spotted and bring attention to the fact they have intruders in their perimeter. We'll have to hurry and find some kind of side entrance or vent-" Suddenly the Matoran vanished into a plume of sand as if the ground had just swallowed him. "KALAMA!!!"

Sooooo... how was your Monday? Mine was... odd. At first everything SEEMED okay but as Monday rolled into Tuesday (I work overnight) some of the client's employees got a little... testy. How testy? The manager on duty threw a temper tantrum and threatened to send me home. *snerk* Like he has that kind of authority. Now before you start to question how he can't have that authority and be a manager, understand that I'm not employed by the store he works for. I work for a separate company with it's own set of rules that contracts out the services I provide. It's a Security company by the way. Your curiosity and confusion sated? Good. In any case, Monday seemed to bring out the worst of people that night for some reason. I was reasonably unaffected by this phenomena. Anyone else seemed to notice it? Tired irritable co-workers? Anything like that? So I also found out that my willingness to take a deeper look into things that I consider a shade of grey are held in black and white by others. That or I just suck at making my point when I'm constantly interrupted while making it. Makes it kind of hard to have deep discussions when others minds are kind of made up and they aren't willing to consider the deeper meaning. Sure there are times where there is no deeper meaning and rarely do I struggle to try and find one when their isn't only to learn eventually there isn't. FYI, even if you can't buy or don't want to buy the game known as Bulletstorm, I still HIGHLY recommend you locate and download the complete music soundtrack for the game. Sure the game may be violent but the soundtrack is all orchestra and is well worth downloading. Give it a listen.

PO-WAHI COASTPO-WAHI, 2130 HRS Once they were well past eyesight of the cruse boat, Juno brought the Cutter back around and let it drift back the way it came slowly. When the moon had risen, Kalama wordlessly gestured at the beach. Juno gently put the boat in silent running and it eased it's way toward the beach. As they got closer to shore, Kalama stood up at the bow and waved his hand in a "go-ahead" gesture. Then the passing clouds overhead obscured the moon plunging the area into total darkness. When the clouds let the moon shine again, the Cutter and it's crew had simply vanished. Not one tell-tale ripple to give away the boat. The only indication anyone had been in the area were four sets of Toa footprints on the beach nearby heading inland. Another cloud passed in front of the moon again making the area pitch black. When it too had moved away, the footprints were gone as if they had never existed. Such was the way of the Ghekula units. You never knew they had landed until it was too late.

Kalama watched the landing for their rival as the Cutter went past acting like it was a normal patrol. They couldn't very well deal with the boat. Too public. Yorlonda would have a field day. No, this would require a more subtle approach. Avoid mixing it up with Yorlonda's renegades until they were in the temple proper. "So what do we do Kalama?" Kali asked. "Nothing for now. Keep going and circle back. We'll make an aquatic landing after nightfall." A spark of excitement went through the Marines.

Tanuka blushed at the compliment. "Oh, uh, thank-thank you." She said nervously. "Part of your nature or not, stressing out a lady is not recommended." The voice now whispered in Agarin ear. Nala, the Marine who'd been asleep, had woken up and was prowling around the boat. She unwrapped herself from around Agarin's shoulders and dropped soundlessly to the deck. "I'll leave you two kids alone so you can get to know each other a little more." She grinned mischievously as she sauntered off investigating the boat. ------- "Evening Nala." Kalama said with his telescope focused on the beach. "And what pray tell are we up to tonight Kalama?" Kalama wordlessly handed her the spyglass. Nala took it and looked at the beach. "Mmm... that looks like Lady Yorlonda's boat. And her henchmen crawling all over it. Don't tell me, we're off on some sort of race to collect ancient treasure and in the process stop Yorlonda from inadvertently releasing some kind of ancient evil tied to misusing said arcane artifact, which she will because we're the good guys and come with an inherent knowledge of how to properly handle such dangerous objects while she, in her mad quest for power, hastily misfires the power within." "I'll reserve judgement on the whole 'ancient evil' aspect of your guess but mostly correct." "And we have a plan for such events?" "We improvise." "Ah, the tried and true method. Have I ever told you how much I appreciate the vagueness your mother seems to be rubbing off on you?" "Yes." "Then I retract the question." "Nala we appreciate you and what you bring to this unit. Is that what you're looking for?" "Mmm... close second but I'll take it." The Matoran wandered off. "Wow. She woke up on the wrong side of the canvas." Kali murmured. "You're no angel yourself when you don't get enough sleep ether." Kalama joked.

OOC: Huh. Here I was under the impression the Cutter was under power still on it's way to it's destination. Instead it spontaneously became a sail boat that lost speed when I wasn't looking.... Nuraka! Fix it! Tanuka jumped looking around wildly before looking up at one of the boarding masts on the Cutter. "Ah! Oh Agarin. You startled me. Yes actually I am." "You know it's considered polite to let a lady know where you are instead of startling her." A voice said from above Agarin.

OOC: Kalama's Raiders from Ga-Wahi, And I'm going back to time stamping certain entries. IC:PO-WAHI WATERSPO-WAHI, 1726 HRS As the Fast Attack Cutter carved its way though the waters to it's destination, those aboard it were feasting upon the meal prepared by the Mess Sergent Yuni. "...so then I said, 'You couldn't flatten clay if you were given the islands heaviest hammer!' and promptly grabbed him by the head. He tasted the mat and it must have been delicious because he didn't get back up after that." Hotu finished her tale regarding one of the many "Dances" that the Service Matoran of each branch of Mata-Nui's Fighting Force held on occasion. A chuckled went up around the deck from the Marines. Kali glanced at the Bow where Kalama was standing, eying the desert beach. "Gonna go talk to your special someone?" Maya teased as Kali stood up. "WE'RE NOT LIKE THAT!" She said hotly even as she blushed. The Marines giggled among themselves. Maya gave her a smug superior grin. "SH-SHUT UP!" Kali snapped at the laughing soldiers before approaching Kalama. Kalama turned around hearing her footsteps behind him. "Hey Kali." "Hey." Kali rubbed her left arm absently. Kalama glanced out back at the desert. "You know for what it's worth, Thanks." Kali blinked. "For what?" She asked confused. "For not letting me go this alone." Kali smiled and rested a hand on his shoulder. "I'm you friend Kalama. I'd follow you anywhere. All you have to do is ask. Anything you need and I'm there." Kalama grinned over his shoulder at her placing his hand on top of hers. "True friends are a rare commodity in this day and age of fear and mistrust. I'm glad you're mine Kalienthia. And same goes for me. You need me you can count on me." Kali felt her face get warm and her hand tingled slightly. She took it back after Kalama released it and looked at it, still feeling the warm fuzzy feelings. Shaking it off she looked past him. "So Commander. Any plans on handling Yorlonda?" Kalama's grin got mischievous. "We do it the same way we always have as Ghekula Raiders. We improvise as we see fit." Kali shrugged. "Why fix what isn't broken?" She asked lightly.

Tanuka shrugged in response to Hotu's question. "Perhaps some undiscovered Toa type." Her eyes glittered at the prospect of rediscovering a lost piece of history. "I'M more interested in the fat sacks of widgets lying around." Tokain rumbled. Tanuka gave him a cross look. "It was a Suva. There aren't going to be any giant piles of widgets lying around for the taking." "HUR HUR HUR HUR." Tokain laughed. "Yooooou've been reading too many STORIES darlin'. It's all about PERSPECTIVE... you see a jar used for decoration. Ah see a fortune in widgets when presented to the right kind of person." Tanuka crossed her arms and managed to give Tokain an indignant look. "It's because of people like you pieces of history are lost and remain in obscurity!" "OH don't be that way Princess... as Ah said, when presented to the right kind of person. If the Academy were willing to... fund my expeditions... Ah might just be inclined to make... doNATIONs from my travels. A feller's got to keep food in his belly an' a roof over his head. I provide my... reclaimin' services to those who can help me pay my bills. After all, we've all got something everybody wants. We just need to make the right deals and everybody walks away happy. You know all about that, don't you Professor?" Kalama shrugged. "It's usually when someone thinks they can have the cake and eat it too when things get nasty. There's plenty of cake to go around. No need to think it's all going to run out by tomorrow." He glanced up at the island. "Well would you look at that. Now entering Po-Wahi waters. Shouldn't be too long now..." OOC: Kalama's raiders to Po-Wahi.

So I was poking through my E-mail today and I find out that my Tech Newsletter showed up. The collective known as "Anonymous" is now cracking down on hidden darknet pedophilia sites. Darknet sites are sites that cannot be accessed by normal means. They are the seedy underworld of the net. Similar to that secret room in the bar you need the password of "Swordfish" to get into only because you know a guy who knows a guy who's best friend's sister's boyfriend's uncle is 'in' with the group that meets there. People seem to be confused on the real nature of Anonymous. They go back and forth between considering them "White Hat" and "Black Hat" hackers. What they fail to realize is that you can't define Anonymous. Collectives like that are simply a mass of individuals driven by mob mentality. There is no "leader". There is no "central cell". Somebody, anybody can just go "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if we did X?" And if it takes the whole collective at once agrees. What they also don't understand is that due to the fluctuating nature of such collectives along with the age of technology, such acts can be committed by as many as one individual or as few as over one million people. No that is not a typo, I meant what I said and I said what I meant. Also it's possible it's never the same person twice in any such act since you have no clue to their identities. It's like trying to pick out a single Zebra in the middle of a herd of Zebras. Back to the darknets, I suppose you're wondering how such a festering pile of heinous criminal activity got started. First off remember rules of the internet. There are NO EXCEPTIONS. Secondly remember that you can find ANYTHING on the internet if you know where to look. This is now much we've come to rely on the great network information superhighway. Thirdly, remember that the human mind is a very malleable substance. Under the right circumstances, you can make anyone become anything. Though remember that true inspiration is hard to come by as discussed in the movie "INCEPTION". Recommend that to anyone who truly wishes to understand just how much events can affect a person and their decisions, ideals, and beliefs. Now obviously I'm going to talk about something in reference to the title of this entry or I would have called it something else. I'm sure some of you have thought of the Tom Waits song by the same name. You are correct. Moving on I find myself wondering why many people talk as if God has abandoned his "Children" as so forth. Many of you may have seen roadside billboards with the phrase "When Americans bless God, God will bless America." ...and I've forgotten the main point I was going to talk about. Oh well. I'm sure it's in this entry somewhere and I've conveyed it without realizing which would explain why I feel like I've forgotten it. Funny how that would work out. In any case, "God's Away on Business" is a quite enjoyable song. I really should finish out those playthroughs on Fable III and Mass Effect 2....

Tanuka covered her mouth in shock before Alrin admitted to kidding. "Oh. I see." She sat there listening to Agarin play music. "Hey Tanuka!" Lei called over from where she threw down a Takea in triumph, negating Kali's hand of a Ruki School and winning by a Triple Ligs. "You said where we're going is supposed to be a Toa's Suva. Which Toa do you think it belongs to? Pohatu?" Tanuka shook her head. "No. Pohatu's Suva is located in Po-Koro. Nobody knew this one existed until it was excavated recently." Her voice becoming clearer and stronger as she talked about the site. It was clear that Tanuka seemed to forget her nervousness when she was talking about academics. "They don't know who it belonged to. They haven't even found the Suva itself. It was located inside the temple according to some of the inscriptions on the walls. There's a mock Suva on the grounds but it's nothing more then decorative. There's no indication it's like the other six." "So there's a seventh Toa out there?" Tanuka shrugged. "Quite possible yes. If you've noticed there's nothing regarding there is only 6 Toa. I myself am proof of that." "What kind of Toa do you think it is?" Hotu asked. "We've seen all kinds but none have ever gone out to that location before."

Ugh... Kalama can be so infuriating! That bloody male is only good for fishbait! Well at least it's not the most ignorant thing he's done... he's done far worse in the past. As soon as I saw Tokain walk into the Koro I followed him and wasn't surprised in the least to see him talking with Kal. Should have known. I overheard what Tokain was planning and was not surprised when Kalama agreed to it. I went and talked to the Turaga. Nokama wasn't happy about it ether. However she suggested I get the girls and we all go with him. It's not like she can really keep him in one place. She tried once and found him halfway across the island the next day. "If we can't keep him pinned down, we can at least keep him out of danger." She said. She recommended we take Tanuka with us. The others I can understand but why Tanuka? She's jumpier then a one legged Kewa. She's not much good for field work. I shared my concerns but Nokama was adement about taking Tanuka. "She's going to have to get out sometime and learn to be a Toa." She'd said. Somehow Nokama is usually right when she suggests something. So I relented and talked with Tanuka. The Toa, as usual, was nervous and stuttered a lot but talk of the target seemed to brighten her day and she agreed. She's really into that old history stuff. Kalama wasn't happy to learn I'd gotten the unit together but he didn't seem in the mood to argue it further. Lei and Hotu brought along one of the new Toa. A Toa of Ice named Alrin along with Nala. A Toa of Sonics by the name of Agarin joined up with us on the docks. As we finally left the docks on the way to the site, I couldn't help but feel some kind of dread. Mata-Nui watch over us and protect us from Makuta's wrath. I hope Kalama isn't too mad at me... but I don't think I could handle being separated from him like when he vanished during the Second Great Tarakava Raid... Geeze Kali keep it together! You've got to be strong! If not for the Marines at least for Kalama!

Clearing the Harbor, Juno pushed the engine to 'Full' and Cutter roared to full speed taking off demonstrating why it was called the "Fast Attack". There wasn't too much for the Marines to do so mostly they just stood around on the deck and watched for pirates. Hotu brought out her card deck and she along with Maya, Lei, and Kali started up a game of Takea. "So... what do you do?" Tanuka asked Alrin.

"Tanuka." She said quietly. "I'm a scholar from the Academy." Tokain glanced at Kalama. "So, Professor, any plans?" "Well what about the site?" Kalama asked. Tokain paused for a minute taking a drag of air. "Mmmm... well as your lovely scholar mentioned, they think it's a Toa's Suva. Though conSIDering the size of it, it had to be a powerful one at that..." pause. "Whiiiich makes me WONDER what kind of Toa it belongs to. Had to be a one-of-a-kind. If so... where is the Toa?" "And the complex?" "Built into the siiide of a loooow mountain. Landslide covered it up. A second one reVEALed it. Yorlonda has the place crawling with her minions. So far she's penetrated the outer ceremonial CHAMbers. The Oh-new-Koroans think there's 5 layers to the temple. The outer ceremonial chambers, safe enough, the inner chambers, nothing more than locks, and then the more dangerous sanctum where the treasures are kept. That one has THREE layers to it. Outer, inner, and then the vault. Each one more dangerous than the last and some downright arcane in nature. What WE'RE getting paid for... is in the vault." He considered his words. "At least... that's what they think based on the inSCRIPtions found on the outer wall." "So big, sturdy, and who knows HOW many actual rooms." Tokain nodded slowly. "Yup." He grinned. "Like that job we pulled back in 1026 in the Le-Wahi swamps." Kalama shook his head. "At least that time we had a head start on Yorlonda. Now she's got the jump on us." "Oh don't be so down professor. You know what they say in the biz, 'When a door closes...'" "'...a window or other small vent opens.' Yeah yeah. I know it rings true. The real question is... can we find that small vent in?" "You've never been a bad bet before Professor. And I have a good feeling about bringing along your crew..."

"You're the entertainment! You pick!" Hotu said as she hauled up the anchor. As the cutter came free, Juno eased it away from the docks, navigating the harbor out toward the open ocean. "Oh don't be like that." Lei chided her friend. "Sing us something funny!"

"Relax Alrin, She's not that dangerous. Just be gentle about removing her hands and she'll come right off. You can set her down anywhere. She's used to waking up in strange places. Considering we found her on the roof. And that's not the worst place we've found her." Kalama chuckled remembering some of the places Nala had turned up in.

Grumbling slightly the Stone Toa lumbered into the boat. "Get us underway XO." Kalama ordered. Kali turned to start barking orders at the Marines who rushed to do her bidding and get the Cutter adrift and under power. "Oooh! Entertainment! That sounds like fun! Sing!" Lei called out to Agarin. Kalama glanced at Alrin. "You can put her down you know."