When the Clone Wars ended abruptly with the dissolution of both the Republic and the Confederacy and the rise of the Galactic Empire, Renz managed to escape execution at the hands of the Grand Army, who had been ordered by the duplicitous Supreme Chancellor of the Republic to destroy all Jedi. The Chancellor, in fact the mysterious Dark Lord of the SithDarth Sidious, had the Temple on Coruscant razed and all Jedi hunted to near extinction. Avoiding detection, Renz rendezvoused with his family on Jiaan briefly before fleeing an Imperial blockade. While he had hoped his family would be safe if they remained on Jiaan, the Empire invaded the world and Renz' family was killed in the fighting there, excluding his daughter who he managed to rescue. Sending his daughter Padija to live with her in-laws on Alderaan, the girl matured into an educated scholar, studying at the University of Alderaan the field in which her father excelled: archaeology.[1]
As opposition to the Empire's reign grew stronger, Renz joined the Rebel Alliance, a loose confederation that hoped to overthrow the Empire and return to democracy. On a mission as a field operative for the Alliance, the Force reunited father and daughter who eventually went on to journey the galaxy in search of relics stolen by the Imperials. Carrying a concealed lightsaber he had crafted before the Clone Wars, Renz protected his daughter as much as he could so as to spare the two any more time apart. On a mission to recover a pair of crystallite skulls for the NercathiTwi'lek clan, the pair managed to garner support for the Alliance in thanks for recovering the artifacts.[1]