"BRACE!"

One look towards the medbay to make sure Astralis is secured, another towards where Bellerophon is sitting to make sure he knows how to brace for impact.

Then he gets into position himself.

SO MANY safety features are activating right now. Even the ones that probably should have failed when the hyperspace jump scrambled a lot of the electronics. Look how still alive everyone is! The Initiative doesn't want the crew to think it's mad at them. It's just really nervous, meeting new celestial bodies is always so-

CRASH!!!!

The Initiative awkwardly introduces itself to the surface of Tarça, with mumbled apologies for the aerodynamic malfunction. 

Çet ducks and covers their head. The sound echos off the hills, drowning out the usual murmurings of farm animals and susurration of the grass.

"Gut wumu wunça?" Çet asks themself, straightening. Anything new in the Haşarlands is bad news.

Would they have heard that in the town? Çet isn't sure, so they turn and start running.

It was indeed audible from the main square in Haşurur. Although from here it produced only a muted roar that rattled a few windowpanes, followed by a deep thumping noise that Dartih felt in his chest.

"Yor gyunagya çetgya Zeterse mu," Dartih requests. "Turgya Wozet."

:You got it, bossman!: Zeterse replies, cuffing the trainee on the shoulder and breaking into a light jog. :Come on, Wozet.:

Ten minutes outside of town, they catch Çet headed the other way.

"Ra mu has?" they call, slowing to a stop and bracing their hands on their knees to catch a breath.

Zeterse shrugs. :No, we've got no idea either. You saw whatever it was?:

"Mu tutero wonçerigy. Nat mu nya çethegy."

:If you didn't see anything, why are you even named Watcher?: she jokes, prodding the trainee back into a jog. :Okay, we'll go take a look. If we find anything we need to evacuate, can we drop it at your farm?:

"Purtot tursagy," Çet allows. They catch their breath for a moment more, before following the guardsmen at a more sedate pace.

: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.