Editing T'Pol (section)

===Before ''Enterprise''===
In Season 3, episode 24 "[[Zero Hour (Star Trek: Enterprise)|Zero Hour]]", while talking with Trip on February 14, 2154,<ref>On-air audio has [[Jolene Blalock]]’s voice-over, recording a log entry as acting captain T'Pol, mistakenly stating "February 14, 2152", despite earlier episodes running on-air log entries confirming that the timeline of the series had already moved through 2151, 2152, 2153 and into 2154.</ref> T'Pol states that she "will only be 66 years old" on her next birthday. This places her birth in 2088 or 2089 (as measured on Earth), making her 62 or 63 years old at "[[Broken Bow (Star Trek: Enterprise)|Broken Bow]]".<ref name="age">According to actress [[Jolene Blalock]], the original "[[Bible (screenwriting)|series bible]]" for ''Enterprise'' indicated that T'Pol was 67 years old at the time of "Broken Bow". Series bibles are later updated when a character's specific information is established on screen.</ref> T'Pol was born the only child of T'Les, an instructor at the Vulcan Science Academy, and her (never named) husband. Per Vulcan tradition, T'Pol was bonded with a Vulcan named Koss while they were children and expected to marry as adults ("[[Breaking the Ice (Star Trek: Enterprise)|Breaking the Ice]]").

As a child, T'Pol's path in life was inspired by Ambassador V'Lar whom she watched negotiating with the Andorians during the Treaty of 2097 over possession of the planetoid Paan Mokar ("[[Fallen Hero]]").

Approximately 16 years before joining the crew of the ''Enterprise'', T'Pol served as an agent for the Vulcan intelligence service. At age 47, she completed her training for the Vulcan Ministry of Security. During an early mission to apprehend a pair of Vulcan criminals, she was forced to shoot and kill one of the fleeing men. She resigned from the service as a result, and the guilt over killing someone face-to-face caused her to suffer a [[Mental breakdown|nervous breakdown]] or emotional collapse which led to her undergoing a procedure, the Fullara, that erased all memory of the incident. This "memory cap" disappeared when she was briefly reactivated as an agent during 2152 in order to capture the criminal Vulcan who eluded her that day, and she experienced another emotional collapse which was alleviated by the support of Captain Archer. Given the option to once again suppress her memory of killing, she chose to live with it instead ("[[The Seventh]]").

While in the Ministry of Security, T'Pol was also involved in mission operations at Tomed near Romulan space.  Serving under her was Major Talok. However, unbeknownst to T'Pol, Talok was a Romulan spy disguised as a Vulcan working in league with corrupt Administrator V'Las of the Vulcan High Command.  Their goal was to promote the eventual conquest of Vulcan by the Romulan Star Empire ("[[Kir'Shara]]").

After her resignation from the Ministry of Security, T'Pol served for over a year as the deputy science officer aboard the Vulcan cruiser ''Seleya'', under the command of Captain Voris ("[[Impulse (Star Trek: Enterprise)|Impulse]]").

In 2149, T'Pol began her tenure at the High Command's Consulate on Earth, assisting Ambassador Soval in his observation of humanity's progress toward space exploration ("[[Fusion (Star Trek: Enterprise)|Fusion]]"). In 2151, then holding the rank of sub-commander, she was selected by Soval to accompany Captain Jonathan Archer during his initial first mission aboard the ''Enterprise'' NX-01 as observer and Vulcan representative.  When the mission was successful and the ''Enterprise'' greenlighted to continue its mission of exploration, T'Pol elected to remain on board as science officer ("Broken Bow").