[Javito1986]

And I know there's no straight canon answers, but I'd like to hear some theories.

Exactly why DID GTVA command pull the Sirius blockade and let the Iceni escape the battle in Deneb? Did they want the ETAK project for themselves? Why?

I'm replaying FS2 now so I'll probably get more questions as time passes but I just played mission 3 so that's what's on my mind right now. The ETAK project was meant as a way of communicating with the Shivans wasn't it? And it was evidently successful. Did the GTVA high ups want it so they could resume contact with Earth somehow? I always felt bad for Bosche though. Especially after his final monologue when he's so "filled with joy" and then you find out the Shivans stormed the Iceni guns a-blazin'.

[Colonol Dekker]

Bosch had inside men, and the Shivans were ***** slapping humanity... Necessitating fire support elsewhere.....

[aldo_14]

And I know there's no straight canon answers, but I'd like to hear some theories.

Exactly why DID GTVA command pull the Sirius blockade and let the Iceni escape the battle in Deneb? Did they want the ETAK project for themselves? Why?

I'm replaying FS2 now so I'll probably get more questions as time passes but I just played mission 3 so that's what's on my mind right now. The ETAK project was meant as a way of communicating with the Shivans wasn't it? And it was evidently successful. Did the GTVA high ups want it so they could resume contact with Earth somehow? I always felt bad for Bosche though. Especially after his final monologue when he's so "filled with joy" and then you find out the Shivans stormed the Iceni guns a-blazin'.

I'd say it's that old classic - 'Plausible deniability'

[karajorma]

It's never said whether the Shivans did betray Bosch or if the fight was the result of a misunderstanding or something.

*Note to self. When initiatiing contact with an alien species who have recently fought a war with my species, try to avoid using a crew who I recruited on the basis that they wanted to fight a xenophobic war with an alien species who have recently fought a war with my species.*

[Cobra]

*Note to self. When initiatiing contact with an alien species who have recently fought a war with my species, try to avoid using a crew who I recruited on the basis that they wanted to fight a xenophobic war with an alien species who have recently fought a war with my species.*

English, man, english!

Anyway, Javito should try to find Antares' Shivan Manifesto. I think that should answer a LOT of questions he'll have in the future.

[NGTM-1R]

Bah, nickel for every hole I could shoot in that.

Although I must admit his logic behind the events of Into the Lion's Den is extremely compelling.

[Mathwiz6]

See Derelict for why they let the Iceni escape   

[Aardwolf]

Derelict is unofficial. Does it even mention the Iceni? I can't remember, it's been so long.

[Dark Hunter]

It has the Cypher, a Sapaph-class frigate, which is just an Iceni reskin.

[Wobble73]

And I know there's no straight canon answers, but I'd like to hear some theories.

Exactly why DID GTVA command pull the Sirius blockade and let the Iceni escape the battle in Deneb? Did they want the ETAK project for themselves? Why?

I'm replaying FS2 now so I'll probably get more questions as time passes but I just played mission 3 so that's what's on my mind right now. The ETAK project was meant as a way of communicating with the Shivans wasn't it? And it was evidently successful. Did the GTVA high ups want it so they could resume contact with Earth somehow? I always felt bad for Bosche though. Especially after his final monologue when he's so "filled with joy" and then you find out the Shivans stormed the Iceni guns a-blazin'.

Maybe, (and this is just a theory!) but maybe ETAK was not a communication device at all, maybe Bosch had another way of communicating with the Shivans, (he did a lot of research into Shivans and the ancients after all) but maybe command did not give Alpha wing the wrong coordinates but the ETAK device affects/disrupts the jump drives of incoming ships forcing them out of subspace early and far enough away for the Iceni to make it's escape?

After all, do we have any clues whatsoever what ETAK may stand for? I can't see a C in there for communication?

Anyway just a theory of the top of my head!

[aldo_14]

And I know there's no straight canon answers, but I'd like to hear some theories.

Exactly why DID GTVA command pull the Sirius blockade and let the Iceni escape the battle in Deneb? Did they want the ETAK project for themselves? Why?

I'm replaying FS2 now so I'll probably get more questions as time passes but I just played mission 3 so that's what's on my mind right now. The ETAK project was meant as a way of communicating with the Shivans wasn't it? And it was evidently successful. Did the GTVA high ups want it so they could resume contact with Earth somehow? I always felt bad for Bosche though. Especially after his final monologue when he's so "filled with joy" and then you find out the Shivans stormed the Iceni guns a-blazin'.

Maybe, (and this is just a theory!) but maybe ETAK was not a communication device at all, maybe Bosch had another way of communicating with the Shivans, (he did a lot of research into Shivans and the ancients after all) but maybe command did not give Alpha wing the wrong coordinates but the ETAK device affects/disrupts the jump drives of incoming ships forcing them out of subspace early and far enough away for the Iceni to make it's escape?

After all, do we have any clues whatsoever what ETAK may stand for? I can't see a C in there for communication?

Anyway just a theory of the top of my head!

It's short for Etamnanki, a temple/ziggurat to Marduk in Babylon which is now believed to be the source of the Tower of Babel myth (this is in the cbs somewhere).

EDIT; http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Briefing_texts_%28FS2%29#Return_to_Babel

ETAK

We now know that Admiral Bosch has developed a Shivan communication technology that transmits and modulates quantum pulses. Bosch secretly resurrected a defunct GTI project involving captured Shivan specimen, terminated after the GTI's Hades rebellion in 2335. Bosch referred to his project as ETAK, short for Etamnanki, the tower that may have inspired the story of Babel.

[Wobble73]

Ah yes, now I remember, thanks Aldo I stand corrected

[Snail]

And I know there's no straight canon answers, but I'd like to hear some theories.

Exactly why DID GTVA command pull the Sirius blockade and let the Iceni escape the battle in Deneb? Did they want the ETAK project for themselves? Why?

I'm replaying FS2 now so I'll probably get more questions as time passes but I just played mission 3 so that's what's on my mind right now. The ETAK project was meant as a way of communicating with the Shivans wasn't it? And it was evidently successful. Did the GTVA high ups want it so they could resume contact with Earth somehow? I always felt bad for Bosche though. Especially after his final monologue when he's so "filled with joy" and then you find out the Shivans stormed the Iceni guns a-blazin'.

Maybe, (and this is just a theory!) but maybe ETAK was not a communication device at all, maybe Bosch had another way of communicating with the Shivans, (he did a lot of research into Shivans and the ancients after all) but maybe command did not give Alpha wing the wrong coordinates but the ETAK device affects/disrupts the jump drives of incoming ships forcing them out of subspace early and far enough away for the Iceni to make it's escape?

After all, do we have any clues whatsoever what ETAK may stand for? I can't see a C in there for communication?

Anyway just a theory of the top of my head!

Well, if it does disrupt subspace drives, why would GTVA Command lift the blockade?

However, this is possible... It could be supported by the rallying point mission (Alpha and Beta arrived too late to attack the Iceni, that or Command sent them to the wrong one or Command delayed Alpha on purpose).

[Hippo]

Stryke 9:

Nah, I think this proves my theory that the Sathani are Shivan trailer homes. See, they really just wanted to make friends with the Terrans this whole time, but due to an unfortunate culture gap and some preliminary spy reports collected durign the Terran-Vasudan war, the Shivans figured our primary method of communication involved focusing high-density plasma charges into each other. Thus, Lucifer scout fleet showed up and transmitted the message "We come in peace", wiping out all nearby. Hurt and confused at the Terrans' and Vasudans' panicked flight, they followed the GTA fleet to Vasuda Prime. Knowing an important populated planet when they saw one, what subsequently ensued was the equivalent of thousands of years of Shivan history, science, and literature broken up into several easy-to-understand blasts... Thirty years later, the Shivans spot Terrans in their nebula. Curious as to what happened to their peace delegation, they accost the first fleet they see and bombard them with questions. The Terrans return fire, and, overjoyed that contact has finally been made, the Shivans mobilize their colony ships, ordering them to set up a permanent base around the nearest Terran star where Shivans and Terrans (and Vasudans, who the Shivans assumed were just more Terrans) could trade, communicate, and live in harmony. Up to the death of the Colossus, the Shivans maintained their good intentions, though they had to admit that maintaining good relations with the Terrans seemed to be getting an awful lot of them killed. It was only when the Terrans sealed off the first Capella jump node that the Shivans guessed that something was amiss. Slowly the idea formed that maybe we WEREN'T friendly, after all. Hurt by this possible breach of trust, the Shivans sent out one last delegate, headed on what they last knew as a route to the Sol system and the capitol of Terran government, housed in a Cain class executive transport. When diplomatic talks opened up prematurely and destroyed the Cain and the diplomat before a meeting, let alone consensus, could be achieved. Shocked and disgusted by the treachery of the Terrans, the Sathanas fleet blew up the Capella star in the universal signal for "farewell", which they hoped would eventually reach the remaining Terrans in other systems, and returned home, never to be seen by Terrans again.

Win.

[Goober5000]

So much win that it was a primary inspiration for DEM.