Stormhaven Rising (Atlas and the Winds Book 1) by Eric Michael Craig

copy for everyone.” He handed each of them a red bound folder before he sat in the one remaining chair.
    “So where are we today?” she asked.
    “Up and running,” he announced. “I’ve transferred Carter Anthony to NASA, and Marquez is on track to start launching generic components to LEO immediately.”
    “Back up a minute,” Sylvia said, thumbing through the document.
    “Oh, sorry,” he said. “In order to get around the limited capability of the military boosters, we’re setting up to assemble the Hammerthrow missiles at the ISS. We’re going to launch components to Alpha and we’ll be putting a crew to build them up on the next shuttle flight.”
    “So you’ve already got a design?” she asked.
    “No, not at all,” Al said. “But there are things we’ll need regardless of the design. We can launch those while the engineers work out the details."
    “So what have I got to do with this?” John interrupted.
    “We’re taking the Space Station offline to use for this,” Al said.
    John shook his head, still not following.
    “The International Space Station,” Al said. “Lange pointed out there are over a hundred agreements that we’re shredding to take over the station.”
    “Ok?” the Secretary of State said. “So we tell them what’s going on. End of problem”
    “How long would it take to tell ninety-six ISS participants what’s coming?” Al said. “Some of them are small enough countries that they don’t have full-time ambassadors here.”
    “A few weeks?” John shrugged.
    “We haven’t got weeks,” the President said.
    “I’d also like to point out that some of the smaller countries involved might not be willing to keep the situation a secret,” Secretary Anderson said. “What then?"
    “That could be bad,” Dick Rogers said.
    “We’ve already taken over some of the ISS communications,” Dr. Stanley said, “Though we’re still trying to come up with an excuse to lock it down completely."
    “You’re planning to shanghai the station and its crew,” Secretary Herman said. “That’ll piss off the neighbors.”
    “Actually with the exception of the Russians, we’re bringing the crew down,” Al said. “We want to keep them in the loop because they’ve got experience that’ll be useful. We’re not planning to tell anyone else unless we have to.”
    “So I make some calls,” Secretary Herman said. “Talk nice, but keep them in the dark.”
    “The other problem is that we want to start launching today,” the Science Advisor said.
    “Don’t we have to notify China and Russia before we put something in orbit?” the Vice-President asked. “So they don’t shoot it down?”
    “Yeah,” John nodded. “Usually an announcement goes through channels and we give them a couple weeks heads-up. I know, we haven’t got a couple weeks."
    “Can you call the Russians and Chinese to give them an informal notice?” Al said.
    John shook his head. “We haven’t had formal communications with China since Taiwanese separatists bombed that hotel in Beijing last year,” John said. “For the last five months they’ve stonewalled us.”
    “What about the Russians?” Al asked. “Maybe they can pass the word.”
    “Not likely,” John said. “Last time I talked to Tatianna Kozin I had to have her tracked down on a ski vacation. She’s a good Ambassador, but now that China’s the big kid in town the Russians’ focus is there.”
    “So there’s no open channel?” President Hutton said. “Could we keep from starting another world war if we just start launching?”
    Gene Reynolds cleared his throat and everyone stopped. “I suppose we could send them mixed messages. Then they’ll have to come talk.”
    “What do you mean?” President Hutton said.
    “They may not be listening to our diplomats,” he said, “but I guarantee they’re still watching our military. If we don’t do anything else that looks provocative, then the launches will make no sense to them.