Organa and his allies continued to seek a peaceful solution to the war, meeting with Separatist Senators on the non-aligned planet of Mandalore.
When Senator Rush Clovis sought Republic approval for his appointment to run the InterGalactic Banking Clan, Organa questioned him sternly, mindful of the Scipio Senator’s previous entanglements with Separatist leaders.
As the Clone Wars wound down, Organa and Mothma began to seek out other Senators worried that Palpatine would refuse to surrender his wartime powers. Meeting in secret, they planned resistance to his rule. These meetings would help lay the foundations for the Rebel Alliance.
Amid reports that the Jedi had tried to take over the Republic, Organa traveled to the Jedi Temple and found the ancient structure in flames. He retreated after watching clone troopers gun down a Padawan, and decided he had to save any surviving Jedi that might return and be captured or killed.
Organa picked up Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, both survivors of Order 66, and returned to Coruscant. While his Jedi friends sought answers at the Temple, Organa listened grimly to Palpatine’s declaration of the First Galactic Empire.
Yoda’s confrontation with Palpatine ended in failure, and Organa rescued the Jedi Master. On Polis Massa, they watched as medical droids delivered Padmé Amidala’s twins – the son and daughter of Anakin Skywalker – before their mother’s death.
Organa, Obi-Wan and Yoda decided to separate the twins, with Obi-Wan watching over Luke on Tatooine while Bail and his wife Breha adopted Leia and raised her as their own. The Empire had won, but hope was not extinguished.
Organa returned to Alderaan with Leia, and served for years in the Imperial Senate, attempting to shield the people of the galaxy from the worst Imperial abuses. He groomed his adopted daughter to take his place in the Senate and assist the Rebellion he and Mothma were nurturing in secret.
Organa was always on the lookout for people whose talents might assist the rebel cause – such as Hera Syndulla’s cell of Lothal rebels, whose capabilities R2-D2 and C-3PO witnessed firsthand during one mission.
Organa reached out to the Lothal rebels after their successful raid in the Mustafar system, introducing them to one of his key agents: Fulcrum, the former Padawan Ahsoka Tano.
Bail and Breha died when Grand Moff Tarkin used the Death Star’s superlaser to incinerate Alderaan, a stunning demonstration of Imperial might intended to snuff out the fires of rebellion. But Leia continued the fight – and the martyred Organas became potent symbols of the struggle to restore freedom to the galaxy.
