She recognizes this talk. It's one she's given countless times before, although it was always to Chakotay, Tuvok, or the Senior Staff at large instead of another captain. A person in her unique predicament doesn't have the luxury of having another commanding officer to saddle with those reigns should the time come, just the people below her who she knows are more than capable of seeing things through in her absence. She understands where Kirk is coming from and why he feels the need to say these things to her.

"Of course." But all the same, she feels the need to contradict him and stand in defiance against this confounding illness. "But, you will. That doctor of yours is a brilliant man. He'll think of something -- we'll think of something. I'll personally go knocking on the new regime's doors if I have to."