Directly opposite Mercenary Plaza sits the ultra-modem, eight story Naruni Enterprises Building. A few years ago, after the company was expel led from North America by the Coalition States and a conspiracy of independent weapons dealers, a team of Uteni representatives arrived in MercTown. The alien arms merchants purchased the plot of land and built a monument of their capitalistic efforts as if to dare the CS, Northern Gun, Ishpeming and others to try it again. It is very much a symbol of the company's determination not to be denied a presence in the arms market of Rifts Earth. From this base in MercTown, Naruni Enterprises has closed dozens of high priced arms deals with kingdoms across the continent, including the MercTown government. NE offered millions of credits, great deals on equipment and free product to the government and its defense force to let the Naruni build their headquarters in the heart of the city-state. Although Proconsul Drago had his reservations and feared the aliens' presence might fuel CS retaliation, the Naruni made him and his kingdom an offer too good to decline.
To accomplish the corporation's goals in North America, the senior sales representative in MercTown, an Uteni trader known as Shulkh (see page 18 of the Naruni Wave 2 sourcebook), has decided on a two-pronged strategy. The first, is to simply showcase Naruni products to everyone who visits MercTown. Hence, the first two floors of the building are giant showrooms that span half a city block. Visitors to the "Showroom" (all glass outer walls so people on the street can see the marvels inside) can see, touch and sit inside actual vehicles and view holographic footage of every product in the place. A dozen Uteni salesmen, including Shulkh himself, along with human and D-Bee agents, scour the showroom floor offering customers advice, information and special incentives on products. Those who express an interest in NE weaponry are taken to a soundproof, indoor shooting range in the basement where they can test fire the products before they order them. One of Shulkh's favorite ploys is to take an NE-JO Plasma Rifle to the range and blast apart a suit of Plastic Man body armor with a single shot.
The Naruni Enterprises Building is an ultra-modem structure built by the company's own contractors using advanced Naruni technology. No one really knows exactly what's on the floors above the showrooms, and the Uteni and other authorized employees are very secretive about it and overall NE operations. Security at the NE Building is airtight and borders on the paranoid. All systems are entirely Naruni high-tech, utilizing advance sensors, force fields, Repo-Bots (40) and combat drones (40 each type), as well as Molock Enforcers (exact number unknown, but there are at least 20 of them and maybe double that many). The NE Building has a multi-layered defense system with Mega-Damage walls with 200 M.D.C. per square foot, reinforced structural beams, M.D.C. security doors (200 M.D.C. each), and as an added measure, the entire building can be enveloped by a force field that is powered by its own independent generator that provides 1,000 M.D.C. per 20 foot section. Inside, compartmentalization is the key to the security of the building; every room and corridor can be sealed, and the entire complex has its own self-contained environment. Power is provided by a private nuclear power plant in one of the sub-basements and supplemented by an advanced solar energy system utilizing nano-technology miracle fibers not allowed to be sold on Rifts Earth. Another sub-basement houses the life support systems for the complex, including an automated waste recycling plant, air purification system, and water supply. Communication systems are also exclusively Naruni and part of the building's design. There are no outside lines connecting to the building, which means it cannot be accessed or hacked by the MercTown internet network. On a similar note, the building's communications systems are among the most sophisticated in the Megaverse. This equipment is the most advanced of its type in the Three Galaxies, several cuts above anything available on Rifts Earth even on the military market (a system Naruni Enterprises reserves solely for its own use). As a result, any attempt to decrypt transmissions from the building suffers a penalty of -75%, and NE can receive and broadcast up to 2000 miles away! All of this makes the building a self-contained environment and something of an independent kingdom or fort, within MercTown.
No matter what outsiders might think, Naruni Enterprises has reason to be paranoid. Agents of the Coalition States are suspected of seven acts of terrorism leveled at the building in just the last two years. Meanwhile, Northern Gun and the Manistique Imperium have recently been joined by Titan Industries to undermine its operations in the field; swindling, stealing, raiding, attacking and trying to destroy transports and kill sales reps at every opportunity. Meanwhile, the three arms dealers and other rivals constantly engage in spreading false rumors and damaging innuendo about Naruni Enterprises in a concerted effort to steal NE customers and ruin the alien merchant's reputation.
[hr][/hr]
Naruni Enterprises Catalog
