Sarai was a "station rat", orphaned aboard Ray Gateway in the Diaguandri system. She spent most of her formative years near the shipyards, sleeping between pallets with a small crew of street urchins and spending her days either performing menial work near the docks for microcredits a day, or simply watching the big trading ships enter and depart with the constant ebb and flow of inter-system trade. She dreamed of one day becoming a pilot of her own vessel, especially one of those occasional that occasionally flew in broadcasting Pilots Federation credentials.

Eventually, on her 16th birthday (Sol calendar), Sarai was able to scrounge enough credits together to take the Pilot's Federation test at the academy at Mawson Dock in the Dromi system. But traveling 162.4 light years with no ship proved to be a bit of an issue. Sarai spent the next 3 Sol years hitchhiking or stowing away abourd various frieghters, passenger liners, and the odd bounty ship before finally arriving at Mawson Dock.