In reply first to Mewgen1: I believe that the GTA shut down all projects after the Hades Rebellion to prevent another from happening. In the main campaign Admiral Bosch mentions that he had to resurrect the ETAK research from GTI.
Secondly, when I mentioned the Nyarlathotep, I was under the impression that if one Shivan ship was self-aware... they'd all be. Forgive me for enjoying continuity in all these (well, most anyway) campaigns.
I do believe that we could try taking a few Shivan cap ships though, maybe not as big as the Gigas, but a Sathanas, a Diablo, or even a Kismat might help... understand their tech, maybe find an inherent weakness in Shivan technologies. As far as I know, the only captured ships have been: the Taranis (blown up by Lucifer), the Nyarlathotep (awakened and caused several systems' worth of trouble in a very short time), and that cruiser in Derelict that they used as bait for the Gorgon Cannon.