T'Pau showed up on Earth with little more than her chosen name and the clothes on her back. She admires the Vulcans and chose her name in honor of one of their greatest leaders and reformers and hopes to one day show her people that they can be more than criminals and hedonists. T'Pau was determined to join Starfleet no matter how difficult her situation as she saw a great opportunity there to make something of herself. She was one of the first Orions to apply and showed up to exam day, homeless, hungry, still wearing her one pair of ragged traveling clothes and fighting hard to keep her pheromones in check. Despite these difficulties she aced the exam and quickly jumped into her studies, eventually graduating at the top of her class.
Her first assignement assignment was aboard the USS (fill out Copernicus charting star systems in the rest later when I have time)Alpha Quadrant and doing a scientific study of a unique nebula.