Vasudan Ace

The Vasudan Ace is the nickname of the Vasudan pilot that is a "mini-boss" at the end of The Field of Battle. The Vasudan Ace is flying a Seth-class fighter and is armed with Avenger cannons and MX-50s. The Ace jumps in after the third wave of Anubis fighters is destroyed. Engaging the Vasudan Ace is not compulsory.

Killing the Vasudan Ace is the mission's Bonus Objective. It will grant the player the Distinguished Flying Cross medal. This is the first medal that you can acquire in the Main FreeSpace 1 Campaign.

If the player doesn't kill the Vasudan Ace, the freighters in the next mission, Small Deadly Space will jump out sooner, calling in more hostile reinforcements.

Trivia

• The Vasudan Ace is equipped with Avenger cannons to prove a challenge against the player's unshielded fighter. However, this weapon isn't supposed to have been developed at that point in the campaign. In FreeSpace canon, the Avenger is only made operable in The Hammer and the Anvil.
• The term ace is never again used. It is only a rank the player can achieve after acquiring a prescribed number of kills, see Awardable Medals.
• If the player fails to keep the GTC Orff's hull above 80 percent in the previous mission, the Vasudan Ace will not jump in.
• If the difficulty is on Very Easy or Easy, the Ace will be armed with GTW ML-16 lasers instead.