(Author's note: This story came about from a prompt, the word "camp", at the delphic expanse.)

The fire had burned low, almost nothing left but glowing embers and an occasional spark rising to dance in the darkness. A faint crackling was the only thing to break the night's silence as the two officers sat gazing at the coals. Everyone else had long ago headed off to their respective tents.

A deep sigh issued from Hoshi. Malcolm looked over at her, an arm's length away, as she resettled more comfortably against the large log they were using as a backrest. There wasn't enough light to read her features, but a tell-tale glitter, a reflection of the fire, indicated her eyes were open. She'd been so quiet, he'd thought she'd fallen asleep until she'd moved.

"Some how," Malcolm said, "you don't seem the type to like camping."

"I'm not," came the amused reply.

She sighed again. Malcolm could tell it wasn't a sound of boredom or resignation. No, it was more an audible expression of relaxation and enjoyment. He waited for her to say more, but she seemed content with the quiet. He, on the other hand, felt a bit awkward, sitting alone with her by the fire. In any other setting, he might be tempted to move closer to her, but they were Starfleet officers on a mission to explore this planet, and he outranked her. He'd do what he always did when in doubt: He'd stick to protocol, which always made him feel secure.

He wracked his brain for something to talk about, but he couldn't come up with a single scintillating comment. He was just about to give up when he realized he'd been staring an an obvious conversation-starter.

"By the way," he said, "you did a bang-up job making this fire."

"Thanks," she said.

He waited, but she offered nothing further.

"So," he prompted, "if you don't like camping, where did you learn how to make a campfire?"

"Oh, I was a Girl Scout."

He sat up straighter, his interest piqued. "Really? I was a Boy Scout. The captain was, too."

"I know." A quiet laugh came from her. "Every time you two go on a mission planetside together, I hear that you wind up comparing your badges."

Malcolm was glad it was dark. Maybe Hoshi wouldn't notice his blush. "I do have two more badges than the captain," he felt compelled to say. Maybe it sounded like boasting, but he was proud of each and every one of those twenty-eight badges. He'd worked hard to earn them.

"I didn't get many badges," she remarked.

Malcolm felt a rush of pride for his Scouting achievements, until her next words thoroughly confused him.

"I made it farther than you in Scouting, though," she said.

He grunted. "Other than the number of badges you earn, the only way to compare is the level you achieve. I made it all the way to Eagle Scout. That's the highest."

"Yes, I know," Hoshi said.

He was frustrated anew when she didn't say more. His curiosity was killing him. "How far did you get?"

"A couple of years, to Junior level, before my language training got in the way," she said. "There just wasn't enough time to do both once my parents realized I had a facility for learning languages."

"That's a shame," Malcolm commiserated.

"Not really," she said.

Once again the quiet descended on them. Malcolm didn't understand why she thought she'd done better at Scouting than he had. He had the badges to prove his success, while she'd admitted she was a Scout only for a short time. He just had to know her reasoning. He cleared his throat and asked, "So how is it possible that you went farther in Scouting than I did?"

"You became an Eagle Scout, right?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered. "I just told you that."

"And after that you quit," she continued.

"That's as high as you can go," he pointed out.

"No, it's not," she said.

He turned to face her directly, becoming irritated by her arguing. "There is absolutely no way you did better than I did in Scouting," he insisted. "You never even came close to the highest level in Scouting."

"I was in Brazil before Enterprise left on its first mission," she said.

That made no sense whatsoever. "What does that have to do with Scouting?" he asked.

"I got back into Girl Scouts when I was teaching in Brazil. There were twelve girls in my troop."

"No offense, but weren't you a little old by then for the program?" he asked snarkily.

"Not really," she replied. She turned to look directly at him for the first time. There was a wicked glint in her eyes as she said, "I was a troop leader. A Scout leader trumps a plain old Scout any day. So," she continued as he stared at her, his jaw gaping, "I outranked your highest rank. Technically, I made it farther than you did."

Malcolm spluttered. "You really were a Scout leader?"

"Yes," she said, adding, "Oh, by the way... Did you know I was on the debate team in high school?"