Capture of Harte Secur

During the Invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY, the city of Harte Secur was captured by the Trade Federation. Shortly after the Trade Federation's landing on the planet Naboo, a droid control program was stolen by a Naboo strike team, rendering a portion of the Trade Federation Droid Army deactivated. Fearing that the Naboo could use the program to turn the Droid Army against him, Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray dispatched the B1-Series battle droid OOM-9 to retrieve it with the help of a task force of droidekas, a bio cannon, and a Neimoidian technician.
The task force made their way to the research center south of Harte Secur where the program was kept, killing any Naboo troopers in their path and using the bio cannon to destroy turrets. After breaking into the research outpost and retrieving the program, OOM-9 brought it to the camp where the deactivated battle droids stood, and the technician was able to reactivate the droids. Gunray then ordered OOM-9 to attack Harte Secur with his restored army. At the city, the droidekas gunned down the troopers protecting its entrance and the bio cannon was used to destroy several turrets and the city's command center, solidifying the Trade Federation's victory. The company occupied the ruins of Harte Secur in the aftermath of the battle until they were driven out by the Gungan Grand Army.
==Prelude==
In 32 BBY, the Trade Federation and its Droid Army commenced the invasion of the planet Naboo in protest of Senate Resolution BR-0371. Their initial attack successfully destroyed the equipment Naboo used for offworld communications, but their plans came to a halt when one of their five droid control programs that kept the Droid Army active was stolen from the B1-Series battle droid OOM-14 by the Royal Naboo Security Forces team Force Command Two. The program was taken to a Research Center south of the Naboo city Harte Secur to be analyzed, and without it OOM-14's battle droids—a division of forty-eight B1-Series battle droids and eight missile battle droids—was left motionless at the Deactivated Camp south of the research center. The Trade Federation leadership, including Viceroy Nute Gunray, feared that the Naboo could hack and duplicate the program to turn the Droid Army against them.
The Trade Federation thus jammed communications around Harte Secur to prevent the program from being spread, which kept the situation tenuously under control. Gunray deployed his most trusted droid, the B1 battle droid OOM-9, to retrieve the program and then destroy Harte Secur.Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Prima's Official Strategy Guide OOM-9 arrived at the Deactivated Camp in his personal Heavy Armored Assault Tank, and was later joined by a strike force delivered by a Neimoidian transport that included five heavy droidekas, one bio cannon, and a Neimoidian technician, who was provided to handle and reactivate the droid control program. Gunray ordered OOM-9 to protect the technician at all costs, with the technician being loaded into OOM-9's AAT for protection.
==The battle==
===Retrieving the program===
The task force followed a paved path east of the camp to find the research center. They encountered a group of fifteen Naboo security guards standing in close formation, and the droids used the bio cannon to fire a shot at them from a safe distance while the droidekas eliminated the survivors. The group then proceeded north to a shallow crossing point of a river, which was guarded by two Tuskcat Troopers, four champion repulsorcrafts, and two light turrets. OOM-9 used the droidekas to draw the defenders closer to them to avoid risking damage from the turrets, keeping the droidekas out of range of the Tuskcat Troopers' flamethrowers. After the mounted troopers and speeders were destroyed, the bio cannon destroyed the turrets, as it was able to target them from beyond their firing range. The droids moved forward with the goal of destroying any turrets or troopers they encountered, which included another pair of turrets on the other side of the river.
The droids encountered and killed a pair of troopers on the other side of the river, and on the path to the east they encountered one Steadfast, a powerful Naboo tank, along with another turret nearby, which they destroyed with the cannon. At the entrance to the research center the droids encountered eight Elite Royal Crusaders stationed outside it, along with two turrets and five troopers stationed inside the walls. OOM-9 had the cannon fire at the closest turret while the droidekas stood in front of it for protection, having no difficulty gunning down the defenders that ran out to protect the research center. With the area cleared of opposition, the cannon moved closer to destroy the remaining turret and the research center's power core. Afterward, OOM-9 drove into the ruins and collected the droid control program into his AAT, reporting his success to Gunray, who instructed him to return to the camp. The droids returned through the path they had taken to the Deactivated Camp, where the technician was able to reactivate the droids there.
===Punishing Harte Secur===
With the Droid Army fully operational, Gunray ordered OOM-9 to destroy Harte Secur. While organizing his new troops for the assault, the army was attacked by N-1L Light Starfighters from the Naboo Airforce, who had an airbase nearby. OOM-9's newly acquired missile battle droids were able to shoot the fighters down. With his troops prepared, the Droid Army marched for Harte Secur, with OOM-9, five B1 battle droids, two missile battle droids, and the Neimoidian technician remaining at the camp, with the latter garrisoned inside its command center.
Acting on a recommendation made in a reconnaissance report, OOM-9 attacked and destroyed the airbase.
The droids continued up the path that the task force had taken earlier, but at a crossroads they continued north instead of heading south as they had done previously. At an entrance to the city guarded by two medium turrets and several troopers, the droidekas carefully avoided the turrets to gun down the troopers, keeping the rest of the battle droids at a distance to avoid them getting in the way. The bio cannon then destroyed the turrets. Behind them, a small courtyard with a large archway led into the main courtyard of Harte Secur, at the north of it lay the Naboo command center, the Trade Federation's target.
The cannon rolled into the courtyard and opened fire on the command center while the droids clogged the entrance and destroyed the further streams of soldier and mechs sent by the Naboo, including sixteen troopers, seven Royal Crusaders, four Steadfasts, four Champions, two Heavy Champions, three Naboo energy catapults, four V-19 landspeeders, and two Advanced Tuskcat Troopers. Harte Secur was not able to counter the Trade Federation's superior numbers, and once the command center was destroyed they took control of the ruined city, taking some of its inhabitants prisoner.
==Aftermath==
Gunray was impressed with OOM-9's leadership in the battle and placed him in command of the invasion of another major Naboo city, Spinnaker. The viceroy also reported the successful attack to Darth Sidious, his secret benefactor. The Trade Federation heavily fortified the ruins of Harte Secur, keeping the city's outer shell intact while establishing their own settlements on the interior. They also established Camp Six nearby, where they captured the planet's native fambaas to skin and sell. Following the fall of the Human capital of Theed on the day after the Trade Federation's landing,Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Episode I the company began to focus on fighting the Gungans, an amphibious sentient species on Naboo. A captured mariner from Harte Secur told OOM-9 about Ganne, the Gungan Boss of the city Rellias, which led to an extended search for the city and eventually an attack on the Gungan capital Otoh Gunga.
In the aftermath of the attack on Otoh Gunga, Boss Rugor Nass of the Gungans formed an alliance with Queen Padmé Amidala of the Naboo. To retake their planet, they planned to march the Gungan Grand Army toward occupied Theed to draw the Droid Army out. The Grand Army relied on mounting fambaas with shield generators for their strategy, so they established a base near Harte Secur and attacked Camp Six to free fambaas and outfit them with shields. The Gungans then attacked Harte Secur and destroyed the Trade Federation's command center there to demonstrate the Grand Army's capabilities and hasten the Droid Army's emergence from Theed. Both armies later clashed on the Great Grass Plains, ending in a Gungan victory.
==Behind the scenes==
===Gameplay options===
The capture of Harte Secur was first mentioned in Prima Games' strategy guide by Steven L. Kent—released on November 7, 2001—for the LucasArts video game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, released on November 11, 2001. The attack constitutes the second level, titled "Behind the Lines," of the Trade Federation campaign, where the player is tasked with retrieving the droid control program and destroying Harte Secur. Upon recovering the program, the player has the option of creating additional units and buildings for their army and is provided with resources to do so. However, the strategy guide describes the level as a seek-and-destroy mission that can be completed without creating additional units.
The player is faced with two enemy factions: Harte Secur and Harte Secur Airbase. The game recommends that the player destroy Harte Secur Airbase to protect their forces, but it is not essential for victory. While it remains operational, Harte Secur Airbase may send N-1L Light Starfighters and NB-1 Royal Bombers to attack the player. The level can be lost if either OOM-9 or the Neimoidian technician are killed. The game originally featured the Naboo mounted troopers riding kaadu, but those mounts were changed to tusk cats in the 2002 expansion Clone Campaigns. The strategy guide suggests prioritizing the safety of the bio cannon to secure an easier victory and recommends that the player follow the eastern path from their base to reach the research center and that they should clear the path of any units on their way to keep the path safe for the return journey. However, two aquatic Naboo transports are located near the research center and can be acquired if the player's units come close enough to them, shortening the time taken to transport units between the research center and the player's camp.
===Differences between difficulty levels and the strategy guide===
Different numbers of units appear for the player to fight depending on the difficulty level selected by the player, and differing numbers of units are given by the strategy guide as well. After defeating the group of fifteen troopers on the path to the research center, the player may encounter two mounted troopers and two light turrets in the easy difficulty, an additional four strike mechs in the moderate difficulty, and another pair of light turrets on the other side of the river in hard difficulty. The strategy guide states that two mounted troopers, one V-19 landspeeder, and the turrets await the player there. The guide also notes that the player can destroy a Naboo gazebo in that area with a single shot from their cannon, but it has no strategic impact The Champion on the path to the research center only appears in the hard difficulty, and the strategy guide states that several troopers, mounted troopers, and turrets await the player there.
The strategy guide mentions that the player will encounter a group of worker droids gathering carbon on the path to Harte Secur. It states that they can be destroyed as long as the player is cautious of the nearby turret, and their units may go astray if they follow the fleeing workers. However, the worker droids do not appear in the game. In the easy difficulty, Harte Secur is defended by sixteen troopers, seven Royal Crusaders, four V-19 landspeeders, three Naboo energy catapults, and two advanced Tuskcat Troopers. In the moderate difficulty, four Champions and two Heavy Champions are added. In the hard difficulty, four Steadfasts and five shield generators are added. The strategy guide describes the layout of Harte Secur differently to the finished game. An image shows the command center not in the courtyard but on the other side of the treeline to the north. Nevertheless, it recommends entering the courtyard despite its strategic vulnerability, as the cannon can still take the command center down from that position.
===Easter eggs and unused material===
Near Harte Secur, the player can find a Gungan settlement which they can choose to attack, although that encounter would be non-canonical, as the game portrays the Trade Federation as unaware of the Gungans' existence until later in the invasion. If the player uses a cheat code to view the whole map, they can find Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jar Jar Binks, and a Gungan frigate in an inaccessible area in the eastern corner of the map, suggesting that the meeting between the three characters on Naboo as portrayed in the 1999 prequel trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, may have been occurring concurrently to the attack on Harte Secur. If the player gets one of their units near the three characters, they will be able to use them in the battle. In several unused audio files, Gunray informs OOM-9 that EEK-176, a droid from the previous mission in the Trade Federation campaign, "Beachhead," will take his place at Harte Secur to allow OOM-9 to command the invasion of Spinnaker.
==Appearances==
*Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds 
* 
*Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns
==Sources==
*Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Prima's Official Strategy Guide 
==Notes and references==
Category:Battles of the Invasion of Naboo
Category:Conquests and occupations