Born to a mining parent can be hard, born to two miners, Lars and Stella, was just unfair.
Having learnt how to handle a plasma drill before learning to walk, Bates grew up with an appreciation for mining but also a dream to become something more.
Being life long miners Bates had always assumed his parents would want him to follow in their footsteps, so it came as quite a shock when his parents called him in one day, on his 18th birthday, with application papers for the Gallente naval academy in their hands.

He will always remember the words his father told him, as his mother held back the tears, before he left for basic training later that year.
“Son, you would make a great miner.....But I know you can be something more”
“This life is not for you, my son, go out there and show the universe the meaning of being a Larsson boy”
And with a swift pat on the back, which almost send him flying given his fathers strength, he went off in the capsule to forge a new life of his own......