Before the outbreak of the clone wars, Lotarra served in the Republics judicial forces as the youngest commissioned officer to be awarded the rank of captain. At only 23 she was leading judicial forces in anti-piracy actions, with a professional focus on slavers and "rouge" banking clan "collection agents". At the outbreak of the Clone Wars, the Republic found itself lacking the numbers of senior captains to manage the greatly expanded navy. While not offered the same level of promotion as her human counterparts in the Navy, Lotarra was still given command of the 326th squadron and would continue her fight against separatist backed pirates as a Commodore. Many months into the conflict, republic intelligence realized the asset that Lotarra represented and transferred her squadron to be the main naval force assisting in the training and supplying of pr0-republic rebels across the galaxy. Her career was constantly stymied due to political pressure from as high up in republic intelligence as Armand Isard. Her personal ethics and convictions led her to near constantly but heads with her associates in republic intelligence, let alone her status as an non-human in a quickly degenerating republic. The final nail in her career, came after the death of her parents in the "Tholothian Interregnum". As the republic stripped more and more freedoms from the populations under it's control, various planets with vast histories of democratic values reacted in differing ways. On the planet of Tholoth, this took the form of mass demonstrations and protests, which the nascent Empire would violently repress. Having massacred a "violent mob of separatist extremist and sympathizers", the republic response also killed 6/10 people within a city block of the site of the original protest. Arriving on shore leave mere hours before the protests would occur, Lotarra's family would be killed, with her father surviving just long enough to die in her arms; leaving a bloody red hand print right over his daughters heart. While there was talk of her being dishonorably discharged for the "rebellious actions of her late parents", they didn't get the chance. Herself, as well as a majority of her senior staff and a portion of the overall crew, resigned in protest and made their way to the planet of Alderaan where they would "teach" at the Alderaanean war college. By this time the Empire had come to power and these forces were woven into and throughout the nascent rebel alliance. Even here though, Lotarra would face stumbling blocks due to internal politics and her willingness to condone and support internal factions like Saw Gerreras partisans. Her close friendly relationship with this group in particular would see her personally sanctioned by Mon Mothma and removed from extra-planetary command.

A stern yet fair woman, she is utterly driven in the face of her goal. Her brutal honesty can be endearing, and her effectiveness in directing combat forces is outstanding. Her stern exterior melts away when talking with her young daughters, though there is only so much they can get away with.