[ Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, Raleigh's never actually knitted with anyone. Either way, he's opening up to someone besides Mako, which is rare in and of itself. ]

Yeah. The Kaiju ripped him out of the conn pod and killed him before severing the link. I felt him die in my head, and it took a piece of my mind with it.

[ As for what made him different... he's not sure he actually is. That anything made him special, exactly. Raleigh considers the question, then shrugs. ]

Nothing? It's not like I'm not the only person to survive piloting alone. Pentecost managed it once for even longer, so it screwed him up more physically. I'm just the only one to survive losing a copilot in battle. If you could call it surviving. But I don't really know why I kept fighting Knifehead. Maybe just for Yancy.

Either way, they kicked me out after that. I said I'd never drift again. Went into construction and pretended I didn't exist.