I start a new story save, talk with the lady then request persmission and go. After receiving and accepting the communication request, the game crashes. Every single time. That is as far as I can go in the game.

Oh dear that's terrible for you. Please send your crashlog to the devs, they are very helpful with these things and the more they get the easier it will be for them to identify issues. I've reported lots and they have always fixed every one. :) Hope it all works well, this game is amazing.