Napoleon Solo was home doing nothing more exciting than going over his finances when his pen started to beep.

"Mr. Solo, Sir John would like to see you in his office as soon as possible." Was all that was offered.

Arriving at U.N.C.L.E.'s headquarters shortly thereafter, he went briskly down the hall to Sir Johns office. Oddly enough he didn't really care what the summons was about. Working for U.N.C.L.E. wasn't quite the same as when Waverly had been in charge and most of all he missed working with his partner. There wasn't any excitement anymore, maybe he was getting too old for this.

Friday, Sir John's assistant met him at the door and escorted him inside. Sir John was standing at the head of long table reading from a folder. Another man sat at his right looking bored.

"Good of you to come so promptly." Sir John stated without looking up.

Kowalski stopped looking bored and half rising shook his head and plead, "Oh, no. Not him again."

Solo calmly walked over to a chair several seats down and sat crossing his legs. "You have a problem?"

"He's so old for Christsake." Continued Kowalski as if Solo had said nothing.

"Mr. Kowalski, if you cannot refrain from making disparaging remarks you can leave." Sir John set down his folder and glared at the younger agent.

Solo waited patiently, it no longer bothered him that Kowalski still thought him too old, too slow inspite of the results that he and Illya had shown on their missions since returning to U.N.C.L.E.

Kowalski slowly sat down again and clamped his mouth shut.

"Mr. Solo, one of our best agent working undercover as a navy seaman has been found dead. The Navy N.C.I.S. will be investigating the circumstances of his death They have no idea he was working for us and I need not tell you how dangerous that can be to the mission he was on.

This folder contains all the information our man collected before he died. I want you to go to N.C.S.I. and get their cooperation, they could be of great help. Friday has everything you'll need." Sir John continued as he handed the folder across to Napoleon

Kowalski looked up with surprise, "What about me?"

"Ah yes, you , Mr. Kowalski will replace the dead man and continue his assignment. Friday, you have his papers ready?" Sir John said as Friday walked into the office and handed a packet to Napoleon. Another packet she gave to Kowalski.

"And what was his assignment?" Kowalski asked as he opened his packet.

"He was working in disposal," Friday told him on her way out.

"Bomb disposal?" Kowalski perked up.

"No. Waste disposal." Sir John informed him.

The look of horror on Kowalski's face was priceless and Napoleon had to hide his grin.

"You have your assignment, report back when you get some result." Was all the dismissal they received.

As they left the room together and were approaching the elevator Kowalski looked at the papers in his hand shook his head and wondered out loud, "Why do I get all the dirty jobs?"

Solo pushed the elevator button and offered, "Maybe because you do it better?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

On his way to the office of N.C.I.S. he opened the folder to review the facts of the case.

The death of an agent was always tragic, but in this instance he was puzzled. The agent had only been on the case a few days and the leads were few. Then he turned his attention to the N.C.I.S. folder. There was a brief summary about what Navy N.C.I.S. represented. The team that would be investigating the incident was headed by N.C.I.S. Special Agent Gibbs. He was obviously a highly skilled investigator as witnessed by the success rate of his team. It would definitely not do to underestimate the man.

Arriving at his destination he was escorted to Agent Gibbs, all the business around him made him feel that he was back at U.N.C.L.E. headquarters. He noticed that they had use of the latest technology. When he was shown to Gibbs desk he introduced himself with a disarming small. It was obvious that Agent Gibbs had heard he was coming and was not pleased. "We only just got this case. I doubt Ducky has even started the autopsy."

Solo put on his most diplomatic face and assured the man that the last thing he wanted to do was disrupt his case. His mind wasn't really on what he was saying as there were several attractive young ladies passing by. He turned back to Gibbs and asked if perhaps he could be in on the autopsy. It wasn't really his thing, Illya was the one who liked the gory stuff. But what the heck.

Gibbs lead Napoleon down several hallways till they came to a set of double doors. Another attractive girl had just gone by as Gibbs pushed through the doorway talking. All of a sudden Napoleon froze. He had not really been listening when Gibbs had asked the medical examiner to cooperate with him, when suddenly he heard a voice he thought he would never hear again say U.N.C.L.E. He did his best to control his face and stared at the man standing over the body. No…it couldn't be….the hair was a little darker, the eyes hidden behind glasses but still. He walked over to a wall to lean against it and put his hands in his pocket more to steady himself than anything. And all he could think to say was "Ducky?"

The Beginning