Obviously we need some timey-wimey process to insert half-a-dozen new stories between Delta and Dragonfire, where Ray is the companion. You're quite right about her not replacing Ace.

(If she had, I think we might have ended up with Sophie Aldred playing Ray and Lynn Gardner playing Ace, which it breaks my brain to imagine).

Oh, and I thought of a patch for the nudity question to remove its Schmuck Bait qualities: "Before reading this meme, have you ever pictured the character naked?"