If I open Vendetta, log in, and then select a character, and then hit the console key while the sector is loading, Vendetta will quit.

OSX

vendetta crashes multiple times on characters, eventually the problem goes away

yup, ` or escape both cause it for me if I hit them after the sector has loaded and before the station window comes up. In the bit where the screen is black.

Yes. Same bug as
http://vendetta.guildsoftware.com/?action=msgboard&thread=4359&page=1

All known crash-on-login bugs are fixed for 3.4.