Lord Hiram Chard, 6th Baron of Ibalin

Origins

The Chards trace their roots to a junior branch of the Pendragon family that emigrated to the Archer colony in Quadrant 2, where the two families became quite closely bonded through marriage. They were historically always involved in local government and helping the Colony prosper, but their specific rise to power is commonly attributed to the Archer uprising of 2969; they commanded a lot of respect amongst the local population, especially because they chose to stand against the central government. During the fighting, several members of the nobility – including the heir apparent – and the Chards ensured everyone was returned safe and unharmed. As a reward and an act of conciliation towards Archer, the Chards were awarded the lands of the Pendragon off-shoot who's last living member had died in the uprising.

Family Values

They are a traditionally conservative family, although they've also been very keen on promoting Quadrant rights and the agency of local governments & military forces.

Their family motto is “Let Justice Be Done.”

Hiram Chard was born in January 3180, son of Ibram Chard, the 5th Baron of Ibalin. Chard offspring typically went into local business or government, as the Uprising had instilled a hereditary aversion to military service beyond the local militia.

Early Career

Hiram was of a similar mind, although that didn't stop him joining the Archer Defence Corps at the age of 16 at the on-set of the Exterminator Wars. After completing his basic training and doing a mandatory stint with the Planetary Guard, he transferred to the Navy and served the rest of his military career rotating through the various defence fleets, eventually making his way to Quadrant 5. Quadrant 5 was at the fore-front of the Exterminator Wars, although the Wolf territories themselves were largely untouched. Still, it was a tense time during those early years, especially as the Wolf Government’s neutrality policy made them largely unpopular with the other polities. The Quadrant 5 military forces however were in a near-constant state of high-alert, meaning that Hiram spent much of his career training for a fight that never came.
After the Liberal government abdicated and the Progressives brought Wolf into the war, Hiram saw some limited action at the Battle of Za’ha’Dum and first Battle of Tuskan. By this point he was captain of the Battleship Paraquat. When his father died shortly afterwards, he became the new (6th) Baron of Ibalin.
With Wolf’s entry into the Exterminator War, much of Q0’s 'adventurous' nobility flooded to Quadrants 5 & 7 in the hope of seeing some action. The trend of commission buying was felt quite keenly during these years, and many officers who'd been serving up till this point were ousted from their posts and reassigned if they were unable to muster the funds to remain. Even Hiram himself was affected – he lost his command, but luckily his new status as a Lord and his recent service earned him a promotion to Commodore and re-assignment to Quadrant 2 as commander of Archer's Starguard planetary defence fleet.
He still tried to keep up to date with reports coming in from the frontline quadrants, as well as with this contacts within the MoD. Hiram himself was still largely conservative, however he was concerned with how certain elements of the military were being run. Tradition and Nobility were empty concepts if humanity’s very existence ceased to be, after all. After a couple of years in post, he decided to pursue a career in central government at the Ministry of Defence, the first Chard ever to pursue a serious career outside Q2. He went onto the reserve officer’s list, relinquished his command and moved to Evangelou.

Despite being the Baron, Hiram had never actually married and was content with the family name continuing through his sisters. Indeed, he’d already set-up his eldest nephew as the Heir to the Barony, and left the running of the family estates to his extended family.

Career In Defence

He spent the next stage of his career working for the Ministry of Defence in various departments, first in Colonial Defence & Security, but also Procurement & Equipment and eventually became a prominent figure in the Deputy Minister's office as part of the Operations team.

Hiram never originally had any specific ambitions to rise to the top tier of government, but that all changed with the Zubat affair in 3217. As foreign fleets descended on Wolf itself to topple the sitting government, Hiram knew something had to change. By this point he’d already made a name for himself amongst various elements of the MoD, including the Joint-Chiefs, the Deputy-Minister’s department and many staff that were key to the internal workings of the Ministry.

Chard Resurgent

When Young (Junior) was ousted from office and the Senior Young brought back out of retirement to establish and interim Government, Hiram saw a chance to make a play for the job that would allow him to affect the most change. Confronting Young directly, he basically demanded that he be made Secretary of Defence, otherwise he would convince everyone he could to walk out, leaving the department dangerously under-manned and uncoordinated during a very tense period for the polity.

Chard was brought on as a special consultant while the Deputy Minister formally ran the department after the previous Minister resigned. When Young Senior was officially elected to officer in 3220, Hiram was appointed as Minister for Defence.