Most people would describe the years since the Galactic Civil War as peaceful; up-and-coming smuggler and junkrunner Mhar'li just describes them as boring.
Morn just after the establishment of the New Republic and the fall of the Empire, Mhar'li grew up on Ord Mantell. Raised on holovids, tales of adventure, and accounts of the high heroism of the plucky Rebel Alliance in the face of the Galactic Empire, Mhar'li lied about her age and enrolled in flight school as soon as she could. She raced through basic flight training, astrogation school, and advanced combat training...only to graduate and find herself in a galaxy that no longer wanted warriors.
Mhar'li's only option was the New Republic Fleet. However, she quickly realized that countless would-be starfighter aces had the same thought. Even as she got one of the few hotly contested sponts in a combat squadron, she would spend her career gaurding convoys, escorting diplomatic envoys, and if she was really lucky, chasing down the occasional pirate. Thoroughly disappointed, Mhar'li packed her bags and headed to the Outer Rim. There, she hoped, her life would at least be interesting.
After years of flying along the frontier, Mhar'li managed to scrape together enough to afford her own starship (the quadjumper Sunstrider), and she found herself working the salvage runs out of Jakku. When the mercenary Fira Bon asked Mhar'li to fly her and the Abednedo Durm Bormo out to a wrech, Mhar'li figured it would be some easy money. Besides, there were rumors that the nomads out that way had found something particularly valuable.
Unfortunately, just as the three of them arrived, one of the components in the Sunstrider's main drive blew. She thinks the ship can still fly-for now, anways-but Mhar'li wants to get the engine fixed before she tries it, just in case. One the one hand, this means she's stuck with these nomads while a group of armed gangsters tries to take over the place. But on the other hand, at least it won't be boring!