Doran was born on the planet Kuat, home to the Kuat shipping yards. His father, Frain Sulbara, and mother, Shila Sulbara, both owned the Sulbara Shipping Company. Their cargo runs were heavily active in the Kuat Sector, but had done a few shipping jobs as far as the Mid Rim. Doran’s brother, Fawn Sulbara, was a year younger than him and was known to be far more unruly than Doran. They were at times hostile toward one another at a young age, bickering and whining over the littlest things, a pattern that continued throughout their childhood. It was their parents who taught them pretty much everything over the years, from how to fly a heavy freighter to the basic education needed to survive in the Core Worlds. But what they had tried to direct them toward most was maintaining the family business in cargo transportation, ensuring they would live a decent life as middle-class civilians, compared to the upper Kuati society that populated most of the planet and the orbital stations surrounding it. When both Doran and Fawn had come back from school, they would usually join their parents on a few jobs close to home, giving them a chance to learn the basics of piloting and maintaining such ships. Living on the planet Kuat was somewhat peaceful for the family, as it was a prosperous, industrialized world with three continents and numerous islands, each filled with lush grasslands, extensive forests, and well-tended gardens. Doran's awe and fascination with the shipyards surrounding the planet had given him a desire to explore the vast wonders of the galaxy, which kept him motivated and focused on his teaching and on helping with the family business.

Nevertheless, as the years went by, the company had been drastically losing the financial gains it once had. Unable to compete with larger companies and Imperial nationalization, Fawn had diverted himself away from continuing to focus on taking over the family business, but instead enlisted in the Imperial Academy on Carida, hoping to become a Stormtrooper. Much to the family's disapproval, Fawn had left without any honest discussion among everyone, leaving Doran with mixed feelings about his brother. It was up to Doran to keep the business going, so at age 16, he began taking jobs on his freighter, his father lending him his YT-1250 Corellian Light Freighter. He was accompanied by a co-pilot, an FA-4 pilot droid, and an MK-series maintenance droid named MK-03. He had bought these droids with the allowance money he had been given over the years, while also practicing using a few of his own parts to fix them up himself. Doran, having lately not paid attention in school or attended, spent most of his time on various cargo jobs the family needed done, which wasn’t much of an issue to his parents, considering his career and life would be focused on the family business. A year later, things would drastically change for Doran, with even his time doing transportation for the company no longer bringing as many credits as it used to. This left Doran's father and mother with no choice but to accept an offer to drop cargo in the Outer Rims, not far from Hutt Space. Their journey on their G9 Rigger-Class Light Freighter was abruptly put to an end when unexpected pirates attempted to seize the cargo aboard. Doran's parents, not wishing to arrive at their destination empty-handed, attempted to engage and escape the pirates, but this gave the raiders no choice but to open fire, destroying the aging freighter in a matter of seconds along with Doran's parents.

Once the arrival of the news was brought to Doran, he was left with the guilt and depression that would torment him for the coming years. The Imperial authorities were unable to track down the people who murdered Doran's family, though, in reality, the Imperials had no interest in dealing with the matter, for reasons being that the Imperials tasked with the investigation felt they had more important issues to deal with, and that due to secret deals with the Hutt Cartel, left those hyperspace lanes less protected. This was the start of Doran's hatred towards the Empire. He had always been unaware of some of the things the Empire had done, mainly because his parents felt that he was better off keeping politics aside when it came to the cargo jobs, and because his schools had been fueling the Imperial propaganda. With just him running the business, Doran had no choice but to give up his family's company and work for someone else.

With no one really to contact, he attempted to get himself hired by Viraxo Industries. Still, they felt his age hadn’t given him the experience they were looking for, leaving him no choice but to apply to Viraxo’s competitors, Twin Suns Transport Services. There, he would take jobs in the Outer Rim Territories, exploring planets and meeting other species he had never encountered before. One of the founders of the Twin Suns Transport Services, Tomass Azzamen, head of the Azzamen family, had been sympathetic to the Rebel Alliance, and although Doran had only spoken with him from time to time, their shared opinions on the corrupt Empire had given Tomass a chance to openly share with Doran information about his connections with some Rebel cells. His time with Twin Suns Transport Services was cut short when Doran wished to pursue other things in life.

Though Doran had a distaste for the Empire, he nevertheless attempted to enlist in the Imperial Academy on Cardia in his efforts to become a pilot. His reason for doing so was to find out about his younger brother, Fawn, as he had joined the Imperial military, but also in an attempt to somehow find out and apprehend those who killed his parents. Doran, during a short two months at the naval academy, was marked by insubordination and rebellious acts against his officers, as he disliked the methods and practices they instilled in the cadets, treating them only as numbers rather than individuals. As a result, he was kicked out of the naval academy, and the officers in charge of him were attempting to transfer him to the Imperial Army as a conscript to be killed off on some backwater planet.

Before they could, Doran fled the planet on a Lambda Shuttle with other like-minded cadets and a sympathetic instructor. However, he was now a wanted man, charged with desertion, forcing him and the other cadets to trash the hijacked shuttle and go their separate ways. With information from Tomass Azzaman, Doran was able to come into contact with a Rebel cell in the Mayagil sector, where they had given him the location to link with a Rebel Alliance Fleet. Doran offered the fleet what supplies he had on him, credits, his freighter, and the two droids he still owned; he was able to earn the trust of most of the commanding officers, which helped him join them. After the Rebels had thoroughly confirmed Doran as a deserter rather than an Imperial spy, he would immediately begin his enlistment into the Rebel Alliance’s Starfighter Corps. From there, he would excel in piloting the BTL Y-Wing starfighter, given that its designation as an attack bomber for the squadrons, its slower maneuverability made it a bit easier to get used to, due to its similarities to the freighters Dorans has flown.

Once training had finished, Doran had made acquaintance with a young female Sephi pilot named Eitri who had joined the Rebel Alliance around the same time as him. With no squadrons willing to let them be part of theirs due to their rookie positions and the fact that most were full, Doran and Eitri had to take over the leadership of an old squadron. Gordian Squadron had initially been a part of the attack and subsequent evacuation of Yavin IV, which resulted in the squadron members' fates in getting the Rebel forces in the Yavin sector to evacuate and set up a new base on Hoth. Doran had now been promoted to Flight Lieutenant. At the same time, Eitri was Squadron Leader of Gordian, and they were sent out mostly for patrols and mundane tasks, giving more experienced squadrons the chance to take on more risky assignments.

The pair would finally get their moment when the fleet had been ordered to damage a nearby Imperial station in the sector with an Acclamator-Class Assault Ship. The mission attempted to halt the ship and station for a few months, giving the rebels enough time to divert Imperial attention elsewhere. Nevertheless, Doran achieved greater success, practically making the Acclamator ship unsalvageable through precise bombing runs that disabled vital points while coordinating with other bomber squadrons. This mission would give Gordian Squadron more chances to prove themselves in the line of fire. Again and again, the squadron would meet great success, with more new faces joining, bringing the total to seven.

Eitri would later switch positions in the squadron, giving Doran the rank of Squadron Leader. By 2 ABY, Doran's official title of Ace would grant him the chance to fly the A/SF-01 B-Wing heavy assault starfighter, which was replacing most of the Y-Wings in the Rebel Alliance. Doran had adapted well to the B-Wing, having been able to make the B-Wing excel in complex pinpoint twists and turns that no rookie or average pilot can pull off with the B-Wing. The Empire, attempting to tarnish his name and credibility, would begin to spread propaganda holo news about Doran, claiming his desertion during his time in the academy makes him nothing more than a coward and traitor who targets Imperial civilians during his campaign raids with his starfighter. This would only bolster Doran’s ego, thinking he was a legend, though, in reality, his successes weren’t noticeable to the average citizen.