Swamped

You consider being direct. But that's likely to backfire. The conversation's moved too far off; chances are nobody else even remembers Grey's slight pause. And his squadmates probably wouldn't take your side if you made a show of it.

What was it that got him upset in the first place? You mentioned Ash, of course, but you've had a fair amount of conversation on him and Grey hasn't slipped up again. So maybe it was the broader subject...

Right. Animals. He got upset at the idea of Ash getting too hands-on with pest control. Maybe that's where you need to move the conversation.

Well. For the moment, there's some news you probably ought to react to.

"Wait, Captain Long handled an interrogation personally? That seems odd."

"It is pretty weird, yeah," Greenbags agrees. "He even handed off command temporarily to do it."

"To Ash, of all people," Grey grumbles. "What was he thinking?"

Well, that's gotten you quite a bit closer.

"What bothers you so much about Ash?"

"You don't directly report to him, do you?"

You shake your head.

"Certainly not now, my squad assignment's in a bit of administrative limbo."

"Good. Because I've seen what he does to the knights who do. He treats them like they're his knights. To do his personal bidding, whether it's good for the base or not. Last thing we need is someone that selfish in command."

Now this is getting interesting. If you can just get the subject of animals back into the conversation, you might be able to catch Grey hesitating again.

Although... there also might be something more to Grey's frustration here than he's letting on. Maybe you should wait a bit before trying to pry that secret out of him, because you might just get something else good in the meantime.

What's your plan?