:Onward, Wozet! Let's see what there is to see.:

Well, the first thing they see as they round the bend in the road is a small wooden cabin, nestled between a barn to the south and fields to the east and west. The north is conspicuous in how the farm just stops, a few meters short of a line of metal poles that stretch east and west into the distance.

Beyond the poles, larger hills rise. The occasional chalk-outlined trench is cut into the hillsides, and if anyone here had not lived in Haşurur all their lives they would find the shape of the hills themselves vaguely strange.

:Do you remember what to do if we see Haşar?: Zeterse asks, a serious look settling on her face for the first time this morning. :And your sword is prepped?:

She stops them just before the line of poles to wait for Wozet's answer.

"Torhegy," he replies, even as he's double checking that the sword on his hip hasn't suddenly evaporated in the last 15 minutes.

:Okay, let's do this,: she says, stepping carefully past the poles. When nothing immediately happens, she relaxes. :They must be away from the border today. Let's get a move on before they come back.:

The guards jog towards the top of the nearest tall hill. It will make them visible, but it will also give them a better idea of where whatever they're looking for is than 'north'.

What they are looking for is large, and yellow, and made of metal. This means it is Construction Equipment, which is Permitted.

But there is no construction scheduled today, (there is no construction scheduled ever again, but this doesn't bother the Haşar) so they are Investigating.

The Construction Equipment landed across the 4 Microhertz Modulator, jamming up the flow and making it capacitate instead. The 4 Microhertz Modulator is a Necessary Component. Since it is Not Working, the Construction Equipment must be here to repair it.

The Haşar achieve consensus, and pathfind north to continue their routine inspection of the Northern Healthful Regulator. One drone remains, in case the crew in the Construction Equipment need to coordinate with the flock about activating one of the safety shunts before they begin work.

They get near the top of the hill, and drop down to crawl the rest of the way. Zeterse pushes aside some of the long grass and peers into the valley below.

:I don't see anything. It must be over the next rise. I don't see any Haşar either.:

They continue on. Eventually, they see something other than grass (and the occasional chalk pit). A building? A fallen star?

Fortunately (or unfortunately), they also have the mid-morning sun to their backs, so they see the reflective eyes of the Haşar waiting on the far slope.

:Stop. See it there?: Zeterse gestures, making sure not to rustle the grass too much. :I only see one, but they always come in packs. Let's take a moment to see if we can spot the rest of them and if there's a safe way to circle closer or not.:

Wozet crawls up beside her and starts scanning the hills himself. "Gyenigy sizdi nat?" he suggests, gesturing to the ridge to the east.

:Yeah, let's try it,: Zeterse agrees. They shimmy backwards a few paces and carefully circle around behind the ridge, coming up to another vantage point only a hundred yards or so from the ... object. It's clearly what caused the disturbance, since it's plowed up a fair amount of earth, but they really don't know what to make of it.

:So I know I said they always travel in packs,: Zeterse says after a few minutes. :But I really don't see any more. Maybe the others are up over the ridge? And I think if we put the fallen star between us and it, we can get right up to it without it seeing.:

They momentarily (quietly) debate the wisdom of this plan. Eventually, Wozet agrees to keep watch for any more Haşar from the hill to the south, and Zeterse will sneak up on the star to see if there's anything else obvious about it from close up.

She crouches. She creeps. She pokes it with her sword.

The fallen star is:

1. So flattered! The locals think it’s a fallen star! No one thinks of a cheap little frigate like this one as a STAR! 

2. Looking pretty terrible. The outside is looking a bit molten, and that’s only mostly the ablative layer that’s supposed to burn up on a too-fast-reentry. The hull itself is also crumpled and broken. 

3. Unresponsive to being poked with a sword. It might scratch the paint, but by now the paint has been thoroughly scratched already.

The parts with people in them didn’t take the worst of it, so the crew is doing a lot better than the ship.

Goggles is shaken up and is limping a bit; one lens of her goggles is cracked. Still able to get up and move, though, which is more than most can say after not-exactly-landing a starship. She’s pacing around and inspecting how bad the damage is, profaning the names of several gods and constellations whenever she finds something particularly surprising.

Astralis is unconscious and even more injured than before. He has been carefully pulled out of what’s left of the medbay and is now lying on a stretcher. His body twitches and shakes, as if he were having some fitful dream.

Monzor is crouched by one of the holes in the hull, watching the metallic critter on the slope through the scope of a coilgun. The weapon is a bit dented now, as is the captain, but both are built to take a few hits and still function. The critter is a bit unnerving, normally something like that would either leave or start making hostile moves, but it's still just watching the ship with those shiny eyes. So Monzor keeps watching it in return.

Bellerophon is wondering how these people are just walking around and doing things. It took him a while to stop bracing (there might be more impact out there) and get his seat belts off. Now he's slowly testing whether he can still move everything and checking whether all the parts of him are still attached to the other parts of him. They are, though they will complain about being moved and just generally about existing.

Goggles catches a glimpse of the armored guard who poked the ship. These gashes and tears in the hull will need to be repaired to get the Initiative spaceworthy again, but for now they are very convenient windows. She pokes her head out of one and glares. "HEY! No poking, back off!"

Shouting over her shoulder, she lets the others know "We have company! Human looking person with a sword!"

:Woah! Hi! I totally wasn't expecting people:, Zeterse says, backing up a few paces and peering up at Goggles. :I don't know what language that was, though. Do you speak Zebarhagy? I'm afraid I never really picked up any other languages, because of the whole being-understood thing.:

If Goggles pays attention, she will notice that the things Zeterse says seem to just turn up in her head without being decent enough to enter through her ears.

Thoroughly spooked. Goggles has never had someone else's thoughts in her head like that before and does not like it. Especially because whenever powers like that show up in stories other spacers tell, they're bad news. Brain eating wizards or forgotten alien gods or something like that. Stories told at a spaceport bar are always exaggerated, and she seems friendly, but still. Goggles will back away and let the rest of the crew handle it. She wonders if her spaceship repair knowledge makes her brain too valuable to eat or if that's just another reason to eat it, before realizing that's a terrible thing to be thinking about because what if it can read her thoughts? Add that to the pile of things she's trying not to think about right now.

Monzor gives the creature one last look, before deciding that if it hasn't moved yet it probably won't soon, and dealing with the new arrival is more important. He slings the coilgun over his shoulder and walks in that direction.

On the way he collects his passenger. "Diplomat, pull yourself together. We need you for this."

Oh, right. Talking to the locals on an unknown planet. That does seem like something that would be his job.

Bellerophon runs a hand through his hair, fixes his jacket, adjusts his posture and tries to get himself back into the mindset of being the face of a great interstellar civilization. 

By the time they reach the other side of the ship, he is ready to stand in front and speak first. Observing the visitor, he notices the relatively primitive textiles and armor. The sword wouldn't be enough to draw conclusions; some planets, including members of the Republic, still carry swords for ceremonial reasons. Not having any more advanced weapons is telling though, this is probably an uncontacted world. He has been trained in first contact protocols so he knows what to do, though usually he would have an entire team of diplomats with him.  

"Hello. I am Bellerophon, a representative of the Constellation Republic. We are a travelers from beyond the stars. We come in peace." 

After the standard opening, he adds, "We arrived here by accident. One of us is injured, and needs a healer as soon as possible."

Oh -- this looks like an official of some kind? She doesn't recognize the uniform he's wearing (if, indeed, it is a uniform and not just his own eclectic fashion statement), but he has the dignified bearing of someone who expects to be one of the most important people in the room.

:Yeah, I still have no idea what you're saying,: Zeterse replies. :Sorry. Uh...:

Shoot, she thinks to herself. What would people in a star want to know?

:Are you from one of the other moons?: she guesses. :Only, you've clearly fallen from the sky, and that doesn't look like any kind of airship that I'm familiar with. Oh! You might not have been able to see from the other moon -- you've landed in the Haşarlands. There was one on the other hill, last I was able to see.:

"Hm?" Bellerophon is surprised by the telepathy, but in a much more dignified way. He looks a bit taken aback, but only for a moment. Everyone knows that you find strange things on faraway planets, and he has already read some classified documents that suggest the existence of 'psionic powers' in some parts of the sector. 

He can't answer her questions without a language, and isn't yet ready to resort to pantomime or drawing pictures in the dirt. So he just nods to show that he understood her communication. Well, he doesn't understand what a [Haşar] lands is but can assume from context that the creature the captain was watching was [Haşar]. The fact that she called it an airship and mentioned travelers from other moons is promising. If this planet has the tech to travel between moons, despite the primitive armor and weapons, they might have a way to repair the ship.

Holding out a couple fingers in a 'one moment' gesture, he reaches into a jacket pocket and pulls out a seashell shaped device. He asks "Is this a language you understand" and the device repeats it in several known languages. It starts with Basic and the most common variants, then switches to ancient languages and conlangs.  

... can you do that with runes? Or have they somehow trapped a tiny person in a seashell?? Well, presumably if you can fly between moons you can do whatever you'd like.

She's not an expert in languages, but she thinks that the seashell person is trying a bunch of them, presumably to see which ones she understands.

:I'm still not getting any of that,: she says. :I really only speak Zebarhagy. Uh, I can take you into town to see if one of the folks there speak your language? I'd ask Wozet -- he's keeping watch on the Haşar; he's up on the ridge -- but I'm pretty sure he doesn't speak anything else either. Flap your hand yes if you want me to show you back to town.:

She smiles, trying to look reassuring. :I know it's got to be pretty scary, not being able to communicate and having a Haşar lurking. But we'll get this sorted out, I'm sure.:

Meeting a world that doesn’t speak Basic is very rare, one that doesn’t speak any languages at all even rarer. If Bellerophon does make it back, this might be the highlight of his diplomatic career.

He turns to the captain for guidance before replying. “She is communicating with some kind of telepathy, it’s one way so I can’t reply. She offered to take us to her town.”

He feels reassured by the woman’s friendly demeanor, despite their communication barriers. He expected more hostility or at least suspicion. However he’s also un-reassured by the implication that having a Haşar nearby is something to feel scared about.

He was already planning to look for the nearest town, so this makes things easier. He doesn’t like leaving his ship alone with the metallic critter, but Astralis is injured and might get worse, first priority has to be the lives of his crew.

“Tell her we’re leaving, but need a moment. Goggles-“