ACE'S DISCOVERY

Disclaimer: The character of Ace is owned, as always, by Grant Naylor. Gemma is owned by me.

Ace was having a great time. Since leaving Red Dwarf after being recruited he had saved several planets and damsels in distress. He'd even managed to have sex a few times. If he kept this up he'd have reduced his bedpost to splinters. Now he was relaxing in a bar on Saturn. If only the guys could see him now, they had never believed he could succeed as Ace Rimmer.

The waitress, a tired looking woman aged about 25, came over to his table. She was fairly short, with brown hair and brown eyes. Ace couldn't tell how long her hair was because it was up in a rather messy ponytail. Ace noticed she looked dead on her feet. He couldn't tell how attractive she was, but out of her grey dress, and with a bit of sleep, she may have potential. What the Hell, Ace thought, I'll give it a go.

"You want anything else?" the girl grunted, glaring at him in a silent dare to request something else."

"Just the bill please, and maybe, some sex."

The girl gave him a strange look. It was a look that brought back memories from his old life and Arnold J. Rimmer, tosspot by royal appointment; she was disgusted. He was confused, this had never happened to him since he had become Ace.

"I'll get the bill, and if you're lucky, I won't give you a rather interesting pair of earrings made from a delicate part of your anatomy."

Ace nodded, and the girl left. Ace thought he would have to work more on his pick up lines. As the girl returned, he gave her his winning smile that had been known to cause accidents when flashed at a lady. She didn't even register it, looking right through him. He tried something he'd never tried before; getting to know the girl.

"What's your name?"

"Can't you read?"

The girl pointed to her badge, which had GEMMA printed on it in blue letters. Ace tried to ignore the fact that it had been pinned over a rather pert left breast, and think of another question. The first one that came to mind was the corny classic "What do you call the other one?" but he suspected that would be answered with a punch in the face.

"How long have you worked here?"

"Since I was 18. About 5 years."

"Where are you from?"

"Earth, like you care. Glasgow actually."

"Why are you angry?"

"Because all men are gits."

Ace blinked. Obviously this was going to be one tough nut to crack. He tried to think of the biggest male git he knew. His brain scanned his memory, trying to ignore the fact that the first name he thought of was Arnold J. Rimmer, and decided he would have to use the second person.

"They can be, can't they? I used to work aboard a ship called Red Dwarf. My bunkmate had his gitty moments. We worked through them."

Ace noticed a flicker of emotion in the girl's face.

"What was that name?"

"Red Dwarf."

The girl was interested now. She sat down at his table and leaned close to him. Ace smiled to himself, this was not going to be as hard as he had thought.

"What was your bunkmate's name?"

"Dave Lister. It wasn't this dimension actually. It's a long story, but..."

Ace realised the girl wasn't listening to him anymore. That was another first. Usually women loved his stories about coming from another dimension. They thought it was amazing that more than one dimension existed. Of course, he rarely chatted up women who were smarter than him who might know about alternate dimensions, but he was beginning to think this one might be a bit smarter than the rest.

The girl was looking thoughtful and a little sad, and Ace guessed at the reason.

"Did you know a Dave Lister?"

"Not personally, but I heard a lot about him. His ship disappeared nearly 25 years ago, and has never been traced since. My mother told me about it."

Ace had never met anyone who had heard of Red Dwarf before. He had wondered whether people back in his own solar system had ever found out it had gone missing, or what had happened to it, but had never found any references to it yet. This was getting interesting.

"So you've heard of Red Dwarf then?"

A yell came from the back of the café.

"Gemma!! Stop chatting up the customers and get your big butt back in the kitchen!!"

Gemma glanced at Ace and ran across the café into the kitchen. Ace paid his bill and left to find a woman he wouldn't have so much trouble with.

Gemma unlocked the door to her dingy one bedroom flat on Saturn and threw her keys on the little table with three legs. She looked in her bedside table for the photograph she hadn't looked at since running away from Glasgow when she was 18; her graduation photograph from Space Academy when she had won a prize for coming top in her class in astro engineering. Her mother had been happy that day, which was the first happy day Gemma had ever known her to have.

Gemma remembered the day well. She had never been interested in astro engineering, but her mother had wanted her to do it, to succeed where she had failed. But rather than be happy for her only daughter, she had only one thing on her mind; Gemma had to find her father.

Her mother had been in the Space Corps, but had left when she had fallen pregnant. A month or so later, Red Dwarf had disappeared from the solar system, never to be seen again. Kristine Z. Kochanski began a quest to find out what had happened to the ship that would last over a quarter of a century.

As soon as she had realised that was all her mother was interested in, Gemma had run away, hitching a lift on a passenger ship to Saturn, working in the kitchen to pay her way. She managed to get a job in the café, and stayed there ever since. As far as she was concerned, both her parents could rot in Hell. The problem was, now she had met someone who had been aboard Red Dwarf, and he had known Dave Lister, the man she had been told was her father. She made a decision and started to pack her things. If that arrogant, bleach haired moron knew her father, she would have to take the risk of being constantly hit on in order to find him, so she could give him a swift kick in the posterior.

Ace noticed the girl from last night standing next to his ship straight away. He also noticed that he had been right; she was fairly attractive when she had some sleep. She was dressed all in black; black boots that made her look taller, black leather trousers and bomber jacket, and a black silky looking top. Her hair was left down, and it curled down past her shoulders in lovely shiny waves. He smiled to himself. They always came running in the end. Too bad he'd exhausted himself with the twin cheerleaders from the London Jets last night, or he may have been able to fir her in. He would have to let her down gently.

"Hey there, Cooky."

"I'm coming with you."

"I'd love to fit you in, but no can do. Lots of other people to meet and all that."

"I want to meet Dave Lister. I think he's my father."

"What makes you say that?"

"My mother told me. She got pregnant by him, but they had broken up, so she took planet leave and went AWOL. Shortly after, his ship, Red Dwarf, vanished. My mother spent the rest of my life trying to find it so she could tell him about me, but never has."

He had a sneaking suspicion he knew the answer to his next question, but asked it anyway.

"Who's your mother?"

"Kristine Kochanski. My full name is Gemma Bexley Kochanski, after my father's favourite sportsman. Did you know my mother?"

"Only in passing. Why would you want to meet Lister? You seem to be doing fine without him."

"I want to punch the guy so hard he has to take off his underpants to chew. He has caused me nothing but pain and anger, and I want him to know that. He wrecked my mother's life, and mine."

The eyes that Ace had seen looking tired, and then nervous suddenly flashed with pure rage. Ace took a nanosecond to consider the consequences before answering.

"Hop in, Cooky. Let's see if we can find the old team."

As Gemma jumped into the space vehicle, Ace realised that bringing this very angry young woman to meet Dave was not the friendliest of things to do to his old bunkmate. Dave had helped him out a few times, but there were all those times when he had really irritated the old Rimmer that had never been avenged. Ace smiled. Maybe there was still some of the old Arnold J. Rimmer in him yet.