With all this Bosch stuff going around I figured I'd throw in my own thing.
The PlanFirst off really, Bosch was manipulated. He didn't know he was being controlled by the GTVA. Some higher-ups in GTVA Command wanted to get their hands on ETAK and Bosch's research into Ancient subspace technology. Because of bureaucracy and the implications of resurrecting the GTI's defunct research, it wasn't feasible for the GTVA to do this research themselves. The need to keep the entire thing secret as well as the amount of resources involved to do so would just slime the GTVA and make them very unpopular with the general populace.
Whether or not the GTVA actually masterminded the entire NTF rebellion is really beside the point. What they
did do however, is
allow Bosch's rebellion to continue long enough for his research to bear fruit. To keep an eye on him and to check his progress, they also planted a mole or two in his command crew (someone like Communications officer Lieutenant Rusk). The plan was to allow Bosch to get his research done, then nab the ETAK device.
Ancient ResearchThey also allowed NTF forces to stay in former Ancient systems to allow more data on the Knossos and other Ancient technology to be gathered. Thus how the campaigns in Deneb, Alpha Centauri and other contested Vasudan systems were stalled so that the NTF could remain in the system and continue the research. This is also why Alpha wing was given bogus coordinates and the blockade was diverted. To allow the Iceni (and the incomplete ETAK device) to escape. (Note also that the cargo containers held by the escaping freighters are friendly. Probably a
glitch. But, there's always the possibility they wanted those containers to survive...)
Epsilon PegasiEpsilon Pegasi had little value as a research site. There were no Ancient remains and nothing much really of interest to Bosch in terms of Ancient research. Thus, when Admiral Koth launched his campaign in the system, the GTVA came down hard. Though they actually did support Bosch's research into the ETAK device, they did not support his military campaign when it didn't support their own goals: Epsilon Pegasi wasn't needed for research, the NTF's campaign in the system there was purely strategic. Thus, the higher-ups allowed the deployment of the Colossus to wipe them out completely.
Note on the ColossusAnother thing to think about is the deployment of the Colossus. It's highly unlikely that the Colossus was completed
just in time for the Epsilon Pegasi counterstrike. The GTVA were simply holding back its deployment until the right time came. Hence why its very existence was classified.
Ending the RuseThe GTVA probably decided at this point that Bosch had enough research to complete his ETAK project and that the bloody ruse should end now. It was time to clean up the rebellion and take the ETAK project, possibly by force. The Colossus and the 13th Vasudan Battlegroup plunged right into the heart of NTF space. First Polaris, then Sirius. Regulus was the last Bastion of hope for the NTF.
Perhaps the GTVA thought that the NTF would stay in Regulus for their climatic last stand in the face of annihilation. But either way, they had to ensure the Iceni's survival for long enough so that they could retrieve the ETAK data unharmed. So, when Bosch alarmingly staged his giant charge to Gamma Drax, that they had to make special preparations. In the "King's Gambit", you never see the Iceni. After the destruction of the NTCv Perseverance, you are told to depart. The Hedetet also departs. Does it ever occur to you that if the Iceni never arrived before your mission or during your mission, he must have arrived
after the mission?
When the blockade had already jumped out of the area? Yeah. The GTVA did it so that the Iceni would have an easy time getting into Gamma Drax. Obviously, they also decided not to send Alpha to the Iceni's rallying point, and also shut down the Colossus' beam cannons in "Endgame".
Finding Bosch and ETAKOf course that's not the end. Bosch was in the nebula, and bloody hard to find. One of three objectives of this renewed nebular campaign was now to find uncharted Shivan Jump Nodes, destroy all Shivan targets, and to
get ETAk -- Err, I mean, capture Bosch. Yes. Capture Bosch. Of course, the GTVA did not allow the Iceni to get killered. Notably in "Speaking In Tongues" (Rephaim and Iceni dialogue).
When they finally did find Bosch of course he had already escaped with ETAK. Ferk. Nawht gewd. Though, in "Return to Babel," the GTVA did get at least the schematics of Bosch's device. Of course that wasn't enough either. They wanted the device itself. But of course things got ****ed up in "Straight, No Chaser" when the second Sath arrived. Bosch had truly escaped. Later attempts to find him ("Into the Lion's Den") were, of course, futile.
ResultsSo in the end, GTVA command has only the schematics of ETAK, for all their trouble over 18 months, and a bloody nose for letting the Trinity activate the Knossos and letting the Shivans right in. Whoever masterminded the ETAK/NTF plot probably is probably ****ing pissed off now.
Unless the schematics were enough to rebuild the ETAK device. If so, then it was all worth it.
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