Wardroom
Tan Ann Pan tilted her head, turned stiffly from Candon to look at Hanako, then looked at Candon again, scanning him up and down. She certainly would have preferred to ignore the question and end the conversation, but she wasn't on Nepleslia anymore. It wasn't university, either, so she also had to rule out any rebuttals.
She never understood the tradition some officers had for claiming they'd made the mistakes that had been made by others. While it was certainly wrong for an officer to deny responsibility for the conduct of those under their command, in this case, and in many others, it seemed less a matter of taking responsibility for one's subordinates, and more an expression of purest chivalry, offered as freely for any enlisted the officer wished to protect as it was for their own superiors.
She breathed out, and breathed in again, slowly, during an incredulous moment of silence, then bowed to Candon.
"I apologize, Itto Heisho. I cannot adequately prepare the crew for a mission. I can only treat their injuries, and perform their physical examinations. It is bad news, but--" What was she supposed to do? Tell him she'd both do what she had to and not, at the same time? She staggered on. "--perhaps this is not the place for this conversation."
There was no place for it, so far as Tan was concerned, but it did not seem to her to be any good for morale to discuss how much harm would be caused by cracking down on efforts to restore the unit's functioning, from the top down. She was starting to lose her appetite.
