Swamped

It suddenly strikes you that you've been treating this whole matter as an isolated incident.

But the Marshguards were planning an assault. While they might have some stragglers who decide to attack Bogknight patrols for fun, those stragglers would be unlikely to know you even had prisoners, since the capture happened entirely within the base.

That means he's part of a squad. Which means, most likely, that the whole point of this hostage situation is to distract you from his squadmates' movements. He could be here on a scouting team... or, more ominously, a strike force aiming for soft targets.

You're suddenly very concerned about the fact that you don't know where Sergeant Greenwoods is.

Resolving this standoff has suddenly become very important. If there's a strike force, you need to react fast - but you can't just leave a hostage in this man's hands.

But taking action is still too risky. You'll have to stick to words.

So what are you going to say?