Dix Tarfait was a Gotal male who lived during the waning years of the Galactic Republic, making a living as a small-time liquor distributor. After undertaking a luxury cruise aboard the liner Salin Mariner, Tarfait and several other passengers were kidnapped and held to ransom by the Weequay pirate Hondo Ohnaka. However, Tarfait was not as wealthy as Ohnaka had believed him to be and the pirate was only able to extract enough credits for eight cases of grog in return for Tarfait's freedom. Ohnaka and his gang subsequently off-loaded Tarfait and their other hostages onto a passing delivery freighter.