Boonta Squad Recaptures Burbank Mine

Today's formal press release from the 5th Division of Boonta Squadron has confirmed that as of May 10th, 14:32 UTC, Coalition forces have entirely regained control of Burbank Mine, Khruvanaye's sole non-planetary settlement.

This announcement follows over four weeks of protracted combat between Boonta military forces and private military-police units representing Beyond Infinity Corporation. The latter had occupied Burbank Mine for several months prior, following the public defection of three of the five local councilmembers to Freedom First, a wholly owned subsidiary representing the political arm of BIC. Jordan Stokes, Valencia Reyes and Samuel Winters are awaiting trial on charges of treason. Adam Allison and Terri Schulz, the two councilmembers retaining affiliation with Boonta, are missing and presumed dead by Party authorities. No bodies or direct evidence of foul play has yet been discovered, but Mr. Allison was last seen entering BIC custody after a verbal dispute with Mr. Stokes following his defection announcement.¹ Mrs. Schulz disappeared from her apartment during her scheduled sleep shift six days later.

Legal representatives for Mrs. Reyes have entered a preliminary plea of 'not guilty' for the charge of treason. Their joint public statement reads, in part: "Valencia has remained steadfastly loyal to the people of her station and to the Coalition government throughout the war. We plan to present evidence showing that any public appearance of cooperation was the result of direct threats on the lives of Mrs. Reyes and her four-year-old son James, and that her multiple attempts to aid Boonta officials in recovering the station were foiled due to 24/7 BIC surveillance. We also plan to show that her signature and thumbprint on Burbank Mining Council documents were the product of forgery, apparently carried out by Beyond Infinity staff with the aid of advanced predictive-analytics technology." No statement or plea has been released so far by the other two accused councilmembers.

Boonta Squadron has applied for an exceptional injunction, prior to trial, for the accused, citing a flight risk which poses an inordinate threat to Coalition stability and the rule of law. As a condition of their continued freedom of movement within Coalition territory, ankle monitors have been applied to the accused, pending trial. This has been met with sharp criticism from chartered civil liberties group No Walls.

"Surveillance is not a kinder substitute for imprisonment,"² No Walls representative Felix Grisham told reporters outside Central Committee head office in Yarruci. "Special exemptions from our founding principles, even for the most heinous of violations, do not safeguard those principles for the rest of us. It exposes those principles to erosion, and to rule-by-exception." The Central Committee has not issued a written response. A Central Committe staffer, speaking on conditions of anonymity³, told the Boonta Review the challenge was unlikely to prevail. "Political reality dictates that external threats remain a priority for the Committee, and without a plebiscite, I just don't think they're gonna overturn written law just on the principle of the thing."

Intermittent reports from Boonta-affiliate resistance cells such as Red Khruvanaye have indicated a sharp increase in hours worked under BIC, but little increase in overall production. A videoterminal message, widely distributed⁴ throughout Coalition space three weeks ago, stated: "Production's not the point. BIC can always get more haematite. The point is to keep you busy, keep you tired, and keep you from becoming a problem. Don't let them turn off your brain. Stay sharp, strike when and where you can, sabotage their efforts to control you and your comrades. Become a nuisance. Block everything. Under tyranny, resistance is safer than compliance."

Burbank Square has, in the several hours since the all-clear signal, hosted celebrations for the liberated, including public distribution of smokeless pyrotechnics, under supervision by a Revolutionary Guard medi-logistic squad. Banners flying the Coalition flag, Boonta Squadron insignia, and signs reading "Up Red Khruvanaye" were seen throughout Burbank and its planetary sister settlement Baudelaire Astrophysics. Unionists of Epomana settlements in Khruvanaye also saw scattered demonstrations in support of the BIC ouster. Epomana authorities reiterated their committment to continued alliance with the Coalition and support for its self-determination, but stopped short of open condemnation of BIC and Freedom First.

"The Union's got a line to walk here," said an Epomana official, on condition of anonymity. "We can't afford to risk open warfare with BIC right now, and we also can't afford to piss off the Coalition, nor can we afford to give up more territory to either of the two."

Anti-Federation slogans were also seen in Burbank Square. Accused councilmember Samuel Winters has been posited, based on employment records circulated on social channels, to be a second cousin of Federation President Felicia Winters, prompting speculation in turn that the BIC occupation received covert Federal aid. Miners' Union liason Carl Spitz urged caution in a late-night press conference yesterday evening. "Beyond Infinity is an independent faction. They've done this before, and at no point has the Coalition discovered evidence of Federation involvement. Speculation based on unproven family ties is crass and uninformed. It also risks picking a fight with a galactic superpower, putting everyone in the Union at risk."

"We have already lost so many comrades and friends. We loved them dearly." he concluded. "We do not need to lose more lives on the basis of idle chatter, and we cannot fill the hole they left in our lives with misdirected vengeance."

Beyond Infinity Corporation's material resources, logistic efficiency, and professional training have presented a challenge to Boonta Squadron forces since before the Coalition's founding. A full count of casualties and fatalities is ongoing. Civilian casualties were reported to be 'low' by a military source on condition of anonymity, though this source declined to share further specifics prior to a full press release.

The heaviest losses were reportedly taken in space combat, in the attempt to control supply lines to the station. CMDR Andrei Smyslov has been credited with rallying system forces to the cause - a request by the Weekly Review to interview him as part of a feature article was politely declined.⁵ CMDR Konrad Waldorf, Coalition tactical coordinator and CI liason, summarized in a public speech this morning: "The talent and dedication of our pilots, the creativity, grit and adaptability of our ground forces, and the liberatory self-activity of the people are, all together, wholly responsible for this most recent victory. For the victory of the working classes and all humanity, we serve the Coalition of Boonta and the Communist Interstellar."

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