retired_hern1001

Jubei and Mutti had no problem getting away. Within ten minutes of escaping the house, they were on a private plane to Nigeria. From there, Mutti went his own way, back to his people with the crime syndicate, while Jubei returned to Indonesia, where Max was watching his personal TV from behind his impressive desk. The news was reporting about the incident in South Africa. Back in England, MP’s were already demanding the resignation of S.A.B.R.E.’s top people. Of course, M wasn’t going to resign, but the country was in uproar. Down in South Africa, it was pretty much the same. Even Nelson Mandela was not happy with the matter and he demanded a thorough investigation of how the terrorists had managed to get away. Max had already readied a press statement, claiming that E.I.T.O.S. had been for both the sinking of the Disco Volante and for the escape of Jantu Mutti. He planned to release it as soon as the Indonesian league had drawn to an end.

There were just three games remaining for PSIS in the league. Max was hoping that they could claim the second place in the league, which was still possible. But another draw, 1-1 against Barito Putra made that a near impossible task. Nugroho had again opened the score for PSIS, but Barito had been the better side throughout the game and Gugun equalised for them in the second half. In fact, PSIS were lucky not to lose in the dying seconds of the game, when Kurniawan hit the crossbar with an empty goal at his mercy.

retired_hern1001

PSIS now needed a win against already-crowned champions PSM and against Petrokimia Putra in the final two games. PSM had fielded a second-rate team, which was swept off the pitch by PSIS. Weah scored twice in the first half to decide the 2-0 scoreline. And it could have been even worse for the champions if Luluk Apriyanto had not missed a penalty on the stroke of halftime. In the second half, neither team hardly made an effort, PSIS were happy to sit on their two goal cushion and PSM were not good enough to do anything about it. The final game was a bit of a disappointment for Max and his men. Despite going ahead after just three minutes, and into that second place for a while, they still lost against Petrokimia. Poor defending cost PSIS two goals and saw them drop down to fifth on the final league standings.

The Final League Standings

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Holders - PSM| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | PSM | | 38 | 22 | 6 | 10 | 74 | 58 | +16 | 72 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Persija | | 38 | 21 | 8 | 9 | 74 | 37 | +37 | 71 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Persita | | 38 | 20 | 10 | 8 | 57 | 28 | +29 | 70 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Persipura | | 38 | 19 | 11 | 8 | 66 | 42 | +24 | 68 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | PSIS | | 38 | 19 | 11 | 8 | 43 | 24 | +19 | 68 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | PSPS | | 38 | 21 | 4 | 13 | 83 | 52 | +31 | 67 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Perseden | | 38 | 21 | 4 | 13 | 75 | 45 | +30 | 67 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Petrokimia Putra | | 38 | 18 | 7 | 13 | 71 | 54 | +17 | 61 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Semen Padang | | 38 | 18 | 5 | 15 | 68 | 63 | +5 | 59 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Persib | | 38 | 17 | 6 | 15 | 54 | 44 | +10 | 57 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Barito Putra | | 38 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 46 | 35 | +11 | 53 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | PSDS | | 38 | 14 | 6 | 18 | 52 | 50 | +2 | 48 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Pelita | | 38 | 14 | 6 | 18 | 50 | 68 | -18 | 48 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Persikota | | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 51 | 56 | -5 | 47 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | R | PSS | | 38 | 14 | 5 | 19 | 43 | 76 | -33 | 47 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | R | Persijatim | | 38 | 12 | 7 | 19 | 53 | 59 | -6 | 43 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | R | Pupuk Kaltim | | 38 | 8 | 12 | 18 | 39 | 59 | -20 | 36 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | Arema | | 38 | 9 | 4 | 25 | 41 | 83 | -42 | 31 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | R | Persik | | 38 | 9 | 2 | 27 | 32 | 90 | -58 | 29 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | R | Deltras | | 38 | 7 | 5 | 26 | 42 | 91 | -49 | 26 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

The End of Season Player Stats

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">5th in Indonesian Premier DivisionSquad Screen| Pkd | Inf | Name | Apps | Gls | Asts | MoM | Pass | Tck | Drb | Sh Tar | Av R | Value| | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Alfarizi, A | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 5.00 | €65K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Apriyanto, L | 35 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 70 % | 3.88 | 0.62 | 46 % | 6.66 | €14K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Fgn | Bosnar, E | 36 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 79 % | 1.97 | 0.11 | 100 % | 6.78 | €150K| | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Budi, Y | 29 (4) | 5 | 2 | 2 | 70 % | 3.16 | 1.17 | 37 % | 7.09 | €26K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Daniel, K | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ---- | €12K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Gunawan, I | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 85 % | - | - | - | 6.00 | €55K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Huda, N | 8 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 74 % | 4.81 | 0.87 | 33 % | 6.88 | €75K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | I Komang Putra | 38 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 46 % | - | - | - | 6.66 | €75K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Indriyanto Nugroho | 13 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 66 % | 1.94 | 1.01 | 76 % | 6.85 | €230K| | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Irfan Junaidi | 25 (4) | 3 | 4 | 3 | 72 % | 3.22 | 1.45 | 57 % | 6.79 | €50K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Ismanto, H | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67 % | 2.29 | 0.71 | - | 6.57 | €100K| | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Karyono | 16 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 70 % | 2.88 | 0.33 | 100 % | 6.42 | €28K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Nugroho, D | 34 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 75 % | 1.85 | 0.06 | 27 % | 6.76 | €65K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Purdjianto, E* | 35 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 77 % | 1.83 | 0.11 | 100 % | 6.80 | €130K| | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Rahman, A | 3 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54 % | 2.85 | 2.85 | - | 6.80 | €18K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Wnt | Rifo, K | 0 (6) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64 % | 5.39 | 0.41 | 50 % | 6.83 | €35K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Setiono, A | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 77 % | 2.25 | 0.25 | - | 5.75 | €2K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Wnt | Setyabudi, A* | 31 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 64 % | 2.31 | 0.84 | - | 6.65 | €45K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Sugianto | 24 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 63 % | 3.44 | 2.12 | 50 % | 7.25 | €50K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Sukmono, F | 16 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 74 % | 2.40 | 0.78 | - | 6.72 | €35K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Vedayanto, T | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ---- | €24K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Fgn | Venegaz, J | 12 (5) | 8 | 0 | 2 | 70 % | 1.87 | 1.87 | 73 % | 7.12 | €375K| | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Fgn | Weah, O* | 18 (7) | 4 | 8 | 5 | 61 % | 1.62 | 1.06 | 71 % | 7.08 | €325K| | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Yakin, K | 22 (8) | 7 | 3 | 1 | 66 % | 2.22 | 0.34 | 61 % | 6.40 | €40K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_hern1001

S.A.B.R.E. did not make a priority of finding Jantu Moffi after he fled to Nigeria. Although they suspected that he had gone there, they weren’t ready to send in any of their agents. Besides, it was S.M.A.S.H. territory and it would be their task to fix it. To be truthful, M didn’t really care about Nigeria. Apart from Jay-Jay Okocha and Nwanko Kanu, nothing useful had ever come out of the country anyway, he told himself. Not that he really cared about football, but John Steele seemed full of it. An avid Hearts supporter, Steele would travel to Tynecastle to watch every home game for his side. How could he afford that anyway? M thought to himself. It wasn’t like MI-6 was paying him heaps of salary. Could he be corrupt? Could that be why he didn’t find out anything about sinking of the Disco Volante? M was getting suspicious now. He’d have to look into that later, but first he had to inform the head of S.M.A.S.H. Juan Pablo Escobar about the escaped Moffi…

After the annual end of season awards show, where PSIS did not pick up any prizes, Max decided to go on a nice holiday. He felt he earned it after such a though season. After the heat in Indonesia, he decided it would be good to cool of some and he went to his secret evil holiday resort on the Ross Shelf, Antarctica. When he had finally chased all the penguins from his ice palace, he settled in and prepared for a nice holiday with his female bodyguard that would last until the start of the new season…

retired_hern1001

While Max was away on holiday, his trusted cronies Jubei and Red Ivan were in charge of the evil island and Yogyanto was left in charge of PSIS. While the evil island was pretty quiet, Yogyanto oversaw the signing of strikers Danny Kalebos and Nixon Nuboda and right winger Uston Nawawi. In addition to those pre-arranged transfers, he also acquired a new coach in Bonggo Pribadi. He also dismissed one of last season’s stars when he released Julio Venegaz on a free to make room for Honduran goalkeeper Noel Valladares. (Apparently, you can only have three foreigners in your squad ) Yogyanto felt that with the new signings Nuboda and Kalebos, PSIS would have more then enough cover for the Chilean. Valladares signed, but cost Yogyanto a massive amount of wages, in addition to his 90k transfer fee. When Max returned from his holiday and saw his top scorer of last season released and a big amount of money spent on just one player, he was understandably not amused. But Jubei informed him that Yogyanto had the backing of the players, Max could not have him killed without serious consequences for his plan.

retired_hern1001

Back in Scotland

John Steele was not a happy man. Hearts had just crashed out of the UEFA Cup against Dinamo Tbilisi, despite a 2-1 win at home. Unfortunately, Hearts had lost the first game in the former Soviet republic by 3-1. And the league wasn’t much better either, Steele knew. He was starting to lose interest in football anyway. He was too busy with his “work” as well, so he hardly had a chance to watch games nowadays. He glanced at his watch as it started to beep.
”Report to Universal Exports immediately, M will brief you there – Moneypenny” the display read.
”Oh, that’s just grand” Steele muttered. He retrieved his Aston Martin from the parking lot and headed south to London…

retired_hern1001

A few hours later, Steele arrived in London, having added a new range of traffic fines to his collection in the glove compartment. It seemed to him that the police in this country didn’t know what Aston Martin’s are made for. Not that it really mattered, nobody had the balls to arrest him anyway. As always, Moneypenny was seated at her typewriter when John entered the room. She was in fact, typing so furiously that she didn’t notice him entering.
”Hello” Steele said, announcing his presence. Moneypenny nearly fell off her seat from the shock.
”Oh, hello John. Good to see you again. You’d best go right in, he’s waiting for you” she said before returning to her typing.
Steele glanced at the door with a raised eyebrow, but Moneypenny was back to her typing and didn’t notice him.
Right… Steele thought before heading through the door.

When he entered M’s office, he was surprised to see more people in the room. M was there, seated behind the great oak desk, and sitting across from him were Q and some Latin looking person, Steele noted.
”Ah, here he is, welcome 006” M said almost too kindly, John thought.
”What’s the urgency sir?” he asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.
”006, meet Juan de Avilla, S.M.A.S.H. liaison in Britain” M said, introducing the Latino with the dark hair and ditto eyes. Steele didn’t like him from the word go, but he couldn’t say that of course.
”Iet ies a pleasure to miet joo Mr. Steele” he said with a think Spanish accent. Steele was actually quite surprised by the accent. He had figured that the liaison would speak near perfect English, but apparently not.
”Now that you two have been formally introduced…” M said, taking control of the conversation once more. ”As we’re all aware, the disappearance of Jantu Moffi has been blown up into quite a scandal by the world-wide media. Both S.M.A.S.H. and we have been embarrassed by these reports. We have confirmed that Moffi had help from someone. Earlier this week, the BBC received a press statement from an organisation that calls itself E.I.T.O.S. They have claimed responsibility for both the sinking of the Disco Volante and the escape of Jantu Moffi. The BBC decided that it would be in the countries best interest if they did not publish this statement and rather send it to us. Which, incidentally was very nice of them” M explained.
”What else do we know about this organisation?” Steele asked, curious now.
”They are apparently an evil organisation and their goal is to disrupt the stability of the world by committing heinous crimes. Your task, 006, will be to find out where they are based and then to make an end to their evil plans. Q will hook you up with some gadgets later. First, Mr. de Avilla will have something to tell you” M said.
De Avilla spoke softly and John had trouble making out what he said exactly, also because of the thick accent, but apparently, they had reason to believe that the next crime would be committed in Australia, somewhere in a major eastern city.
Well, John thought to himself, That’s not a helluva lot to go on…

retired_hern1001

Authors Note: Thanks to everyone who voted for this stories award nomination and although it didn't win, I'm still proud of being nominated, Cheers

Back in Indonesia

Max stared hard into the eyes of his guest. The man’s weathered features showed the years of living in the Australian bush. Wanted criminals usually don’t live in a sunny seaside apartment Max reminded himself.
Michael “Mick” Hayes returned his host’s cold stare, his mind mulling over the proposition that this short, fat and bald guy had just put on the table. He wasn’t worried about the risks involved. He was already the most wanted man in the Oz for a while and wasn’t worried about the police running around trying to find him. In fact, he wasn’t worrying at all, he was thinking about the opportunities that this man could present him with.
”All right then, mate. I’ll join in on this little plan of yours. But how do you exactly propose to move the damn thing? It’s huge for crying out loud!” Mick said
”My scientists are already working on something, that’s all you need to know. Jubei here will show you to the hotel where you can stay until the preparations are finished. We’ll be meeting again, I’m sure” Max said with a smile, while he motioned for Jubei to carry out the order. As Jubei showed Hayes the door, Max leaned back in his chair, pondering his next evil plot.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian league was gearing up for the start of the new season in a few days time. Max made a mental note to make sure that Jubei had arranged for his team to be told what was expected of them. After a fifth place last season, it was now time to make a move for the top, Max knew.

retired_hern1001

The Indonesian bookies had PSIS at 16-1 to become champions, signalling that they didn’t believe that Max’ team was among the hot favourites for the title. Nonetheless, Max and his team got off to a good start. Semen Pagang were the first opponents of the season, and despite going 1-0 down, PSIS came out 3-1 victors at the end. Both debutant-strikers Nuboba and Kalebos scored, the latter twice.

The next game against PSM ended in a 1-1 draw and after that, PSIS lost 3-1 to Persija. Kalebos and Uston Nawawi, another of the new signings, guided PSIS past Persikota in the final game of the month with a goal each. PSIS were still in 8th place at the end of the month though, but Max was hoping his team could improve in February.

retired_hern1001

Sydney, Australia

Steele looked out the window of his hotel room, seeing the view of the Sydney harbour, with it’s prominent Opera House dominating the view. John wondered how long he would have to lie in wait here. M had said that he’d contact him when they knew anything more about the upcoming crime in Australia. That had been three weeks ago and still, nothing had been heard from Steele’s headquarters. He was alternating between the big cities on the Australian East Coast, but he didn’t note anything overly suspicious. Hell, he didn’t even know where to look for whom. Steele had already decided to leave the paperwork he was supposed to be doing for what it was and visit the local casinos and night-clubs instead. But all that turned up was a few pleasant nights not spent alone…

Back in Indonesia, Max’ scientists had finally worked out their part of this devious plan. They had successfully managed to test fire their shrink-ray which was to be used by Mick. Mick had already returned to Australia and Red Ivan would deliver the shrinking device there with the submarine. The next part of the evil plot was about to be unfolded.

shannon2007

Well done on your nomination I'm sure there's many more to come :thup: