$W{ ETAK
From the Encyclopedia Galactica (Ising University of Antares ed., January 2399) $}

PROJECT SCOPE: Creation of a device to communicate with Shivans
ACTIVE: 2360-2365 (Sixth Fleet), 2365-2367 (Neo-Terran Front)
HEADQUARTERS: Boadicea Depot, Deneb
OUTCOME: First non-violent contact with the Shivans; Shivan capture of Admiral Aken Bosch and his command staff; destruction of the NTF Iceni

Project Etamnanki, or Etak for short, was the Neo-Terran Front's research program to initiate communication between Terrans and the Shivans. It resulted in the only known instance of nonviolent contact between Shivans and other species in 2367, at the end of the NTF Revolt. Etak was the brainchild of Admiral Aken Bosch, former commander of the GTVA 6th Fleet and Supreme Commander of the NTF. Bosch originally intended to name the project "Etemenanki," after the ancient building that inspired the mythological Tower of Babel. But Bosch's early emails misspelled it "Etamnanki," and the typo stuck.

Bosch's private logs indicate that he gained access to Galactic Terran Intelligence's research on Shivan communications from the Hades Revolt (2335-36) around the time of his promotion to 6th Fleet commander in 2360.  He soon came to believe that the Shivans could be reasoned with. Using his political connections within the former Regulus Syndicate bloc, he was able to establish a dedicated research group outside the GTVA chain of command.

When the Neo-Terran Front revolted on New Year's Day 2366, seizing control of Polaris and neighboring systems, Bosch sent special teams to loot the ruins of the Ancients.  Contemporaries believed that Bosch was using black-market artifact sales to stabilize the NTF's finances.  While some artifacts were indeed sold, Bosch's primary goal was to learn more about Shivan communications.  By mid-2367, an early prototype had been built in Deneb at the Boadicea Depot, and later installed within Bosch's disguised command frigate, the NTF Iceni.  Raiders from the GTD Aquitaine stumbled on the Iceni, forcing Bosch to withdraw posthaste.  For reasons still unknown today, GTVA Command allowed the Iceni to flee to Sirius with the Etak prototype onboard.

Bosch's narrow escape from Deneb, together with the contemporary Koth Offensive in Epsilon Pegasi, proved to be the high water mark of the NTF.  Loyalist forces rushed the GTVA Colossus into service to stanch the bleeding, stopping Koth cold during Operation Riposte. The NTF retreat soon became a rout, with Deneb, Sirius and Epsilon Pegasi all falling to the Loyalists in short order.  With the situation desperate, Bosch ordered surviving NTF forces to break out into the nebula beyond Gamma Draconis, where he would attempt to contact the Shivans using the Etak prototype.  In the nebula, Bosch activated the device, establishing communications with the Shivans. The initial contact in the nebula, between the SD Chemosh and the NTF Iceni, was "crude and rudimentary," but paved the way for a subsequent contact between Bosch and the Shivans. Shortly thereafter, Bosch and his staff were captured in the first and only known example of Shivan abduction.

What was said in the fateful meetings between Bosch and the Shivans will likely never be known. Shortly after Bosch's departure, a firefight broke out between the Shivan boarding party and the NTF.  The few survivors onboard the Iceni barely survived to be rescued by GTVA loyalist forces. The Iceni self-destructed soon after, presumably destroying the only known example of the Etak device. A short time later, the Sathanas juggernaut armada emerged from the mist.  