A/N This is my first story. After reading several excellent AU's from the Gundam SEED universe I realised few people had tried to write an AU from a ZAFT perspective and/or with a Natural main character. This is what I came up with, and is a guideline to my story.
This is just a preview.
Flashback
Lieutenant Chris Knight of the Earth Alliance 9th Orbital Fleet acknowledged the signal calmly. "This is Blue One, signal acknowledged. Blue Squadron standing by."
"This is Admiral Craig, Blue Squadron. You are to escort the 13th Attack Squadron for their attack run on the Colony's harbour. Craig out."
Chris opened a line to his team. "You heard the Admiral, Blue Squadron. Form on me, we're escorting the heavies today." He piloted his Mobile Armour over to where the unit they were escorting was locating, the 11 Moebius Mobile Armours of his pilots following him. The unit was painted a distinctive blue and black colour scheme. "13th Attack Squadron, this is Blue Leader. We're your escorts for this evening, so come to course One-Zero-Seven, Angels Ten, Follow the leader."
"Roger that, Blue Leader. Following leader."
Chris sighed as ZAFT's GINN Mobile Suits moved to intercept. "Tally-ho, gentlemen. Time to dance." Chris wondered if he was on the right side of the war as he advanced straight at the ZAFT forces, deployed the wired gunbarrels from his Moebius Zero and fired, forcing the Mobile Suits to evade his attacks. He ploughed through the ZAFT forces, followed by his squadron.
During the next half-hour, his unit proved that the vast technological superiority ZAFT's Mobile Suits had was not the only defining factor in space warfare. 7 ZAFT GINN's and 2 CGUE's were destroyed for the loss of 4 Moebius units from his squadron, all new pilots replacing transfers. The unit they were escorting had lost all but three Mobile Armours when they had attack a pair of GINN's before Chris rescued them. Finally, they had approached firing position.
Chris was playing tag with a couple of GINN's when one of his pilots noticed what ordinance the 13th Attack Squadron was packing and announced it over the squad communication frequency. "Shit! They're packing nukes! Laser designators aimed at Junius Seven!"
Chris paled. Junius Seven, he knew, was an agricultural colony with no military value. Besides, what a nuke would do to a PLANT…he realised he was on the wrong side after all. 'Holy Shit!'
"This is Knight, Blue Squadron, destroy those nuke carriers!" he ordered as he spun about, ignoring the two GINN's.
Lieutenant Jacob Raikes, the pilot who noticed the nukes, responded instantly, destroying one with his Linear Cannon and taking out another with his missiles. The last one, however… "One away! Repeat, one nuke launched!" he shouted as he destroyed the last Mobile Armour.
Chris swore at both the announcement and the GINN's firing at him. Taking action, he hit the radio to an open channel. "Nuke at J7! Repeat, Nuclear warhead aimed at Junius Seven from 35-11-Zulu!" he announced as he deployed his gunbarrels and began firing at the missile whilst avoiding the GINN's fire.
Suddenly the GINN's fire shifted from his Zero to the nuclear missile. Both their volleys missed the speeding missile, which was rapidly approaching danger range to the PLANT. As it neared the edge of his machines range, Chris called back his wired gunbarrels and reattached them to his Zero, using their thrusters to speed up and stabilise his Zero as he prepared a last-ditch attempt from his Linear Cannon. Meanwhile the GINN's pilots and his surviving Moebius pilots kept Atlantic Federation Moebius units from distracting him.
He fired, time and space seeming to freeze as the lone Linear Cannon round travelled toward its target.
It hit, the missile exploding with all the fury of such weapons and Chris shoved his Moebius Zero 'down' and increased his speed to get out of the danger zone as his pilots scattered.
Chris gritted his teeth and poured every bit of power he could into his Zero's engines as he tried to outrun the nuclear shockwave.
"Waaa-Hooo!" he whooped as he escaped the dangerous shockwave. "What a ride!"
He quickly got down to business. "Blue Squadron, sound off."
"Blue two, all green." That was Jacob Raikes.
"Blue eight, engines out, life support minimal. The ZAFT GINN that helped us is watching me." Samantha O'Neill
"Blue five, crisped but alive." Peter Thanas.
"Blue twelve, bit busy right now, call back later." Mitchell Jackson. "Damn, nice shot GINN."
Chris pulled up, a bit pissed that only four other members of his unit were alive. He raced towards where Mitchell was tangling with several Moebius units, assisted by a single ZAFT GINN.
Deploying his wired gunbarrels, Chris fired carefully, making sure to avoid both allied units. Several of the attacking Moebius units were destroyed by the Zero's superior firepower. He opened a communication line to the ZAFT forces. "This is Lieutenant Chris Knight in a Moebius Zero, leading Blue Squadron of the 9th Orbital Fleet. ZAFT forces, my unit and I wish to defect."
An unfamiliar face appeared on his screen in ZAFT black. "This is Captain Yuki of the Scharnorst, thanks for destroying that missile, Lieutenant. I'm forwarding your request and your actions to High Command, in the meantime, feel welcome to assist."
Chris nodded. "Roger that, Captain. Blue Squadron; form up on me if able. Eight, request assistance from the GINN and get to safety."
"Yes, sir." Samantha's voice came over, dejected.
The three active Moebius units formed up on Chris, along with the GINN that had helped Mitchell. Another new face, this time in ZAFT elite red, appears on the communications screen. "ZAFT pilot Kyle Ward to Moebius Zero. Requesting permission to join up with your unit."
Chris keyed his comm. "Lieutenant Knight here, pilot Ward, welcome to Blue Squadron. You take the lead. Any of your teams need help?"
"Laconi. Follow me." The GINN took off, the remnants of Blue Squadron following it towards a large battle, between a ZAFT team of two Laurasia-class frigates and their 12 GINN's and an Earth forces group of 5 Drake and 3 Nelson-class warships and their attendant 44 Mobile Armours. Both sides had suffered losses.
Kyle called ahead. "Laconi team, this is Kyle Ward of the Yuki team coming to assist with Blue Squadron, formerly of the Earth Alliance. They're the one's that destroyed the nuke."
"Laconi here, thanks for the assist. All Mobile Suits, leave the new Mobile Armours coming in with the GINN alone, they're friendlies."
"Knight to Blue Squadron, call for backup and watch each others' backs. The Alliance will pay for such treachery." Chris growled as he darted forward and deployed his gunbarrels, ripping into the Moebius units. Following behind him his unit and Kyle's GINN added their firepower to his, decimating the Moebius Mobile Armours facing them.
Chris snorted as he effortlessly avoided incoming fire. 'You bastards should never have used a nuke.' He thought, furious. 'I may have been persuaded to forgive if it had been a military PLANT, but a PLANT well known for being agricultural? Deliberately targeting civilians is something I will never forgive.' Two of his wired gunbarrels were suddenly destroyed by one of the Nelson-class destroyers and he growled as his anger coalesced into icy rage. "Bastards!" he shouted as he targeted his remaining weapons on the warship. "You dare!" he fired.
Moments later, two Nelson's and a Drake had been destroyed by Chris with his Linear Cannon while his wired gunbarrels had destroyed any nearby Moebius units. Breathing heavily, he struggled to get his temper under control as the surviving Earth Alliance forces withdrew. He finally got his temper under control as his comm screen beeped. He activated it. "Knight here."
"This is Commander Damien Mizuno, commanding officer of this defence sector. Lieutenant Knight, your units defection has been accepted and welcomed by the Defence Committee. Welcome to ZAFT." The figure-in the purple of a senior commander-smiled slightly. "And on a more personal note, you have my people's heartfelt gratitude. Many of us have family on Junius Seven. It can't have been easy to fire on your own people."
Chris smiled tiredly. "I already had doubts about the Alliance, Commander. That merely cemented them and turned me completely and utterly against the Earth Forces. As for firing on the nuke, well, that wasn't even considered. I had to do it."
Mizuno nodded. "Understood. The Scharnorst will receive you and your pilots. The Supreme Council want to see you at your earliest convenience on Aprilius One."
Chris chuckled. "Roger that. Blue Squadron RTB."
End Flashback
A/N2 Constructive criticism please. I want to make this as real and true to the character of the SEED universe as possible. Naturally, some characters will be OC (Zala's)