[He shakes his head. The wind biting against his skin is a reminder: he can't mask the cold clench of his jaw, the way it tenses a muscle in his cheek.]

I never met him. We just dug his armor - your armor - out of the sand by some old Sangheili temples.

[Don't mention that he did it twice. Don't mention that the first time, it was with the gutted, empty-shelled corpse of a co-worker, a friend, broken by the presence too many minds in his head. Don't mention that it was with Carolina, the second time.]

[Don't mention that whoever ran under her callsign nearly killed Lavernius Tucker.]

I worked with someone who knew him, but I never got the impression that they were close.

[Don't mention that it was, apparently, Epsilon who killed him.]