How Qi'ra Could End Up On Exegol
Image Source: Culture Slate (Marvel Comics, Lucasfilm Ltd.)
November 16 will see the release of the first issue of Star Wars: Hidden Empire, the third and final comic miniseries written by Charles Soule, chronicling the rise (and probably fall) of the crime syndicate Crimson Dawn. Hidden Empire's two predecessor series, War of the Bounty Hunters and Crimson Reign established the plan Qi'ra, the new leader of Crimson Dawn, had for the galaxy: to wipe out the Sith and thus level the playing field for the citizens of the galaxy.
To achieve this, she applied all the knowledge and all the schemes she had learned from her former boss Maul, to recruit a crew of assassins and outcasts, like Ochi of Bestoon or the Knights of Ren. At the same time, she managed to create a vast network of spies, that even ranged deep inside the Galactic Empire, while at the same time establishing contacts with the Rebel Alliance. The last panel of Crimson Reign even suggests that it might have been Qi'ra, who provided the Rebellion with the location of the second Death Star.
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Much like her sworn enemy, Darth Sidious, Qi'ra always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else, and no matter what she always had a backup plan. Hidden Empire will likely show the execution of this plan (which ultimately has to fail, of course) and might find Qi'ra ending up on Exegol, where at this point Sidious' great contingency plan for the Last Order is well underway.
To be clear, none of the previous 10 issues of the "Crimson Dawn saga" included any indication that Qi'ra will try to stop the Sith on Exegol, nor that she's even aware of that planet, so what follows is pure speculation.
So, assuming that Qi'ra knows about Exegol and her plan actually includes fighting Sidious there, this leaves the question of how she (and probably many of her servants, underlings, and fighters) would get there. According to current canon navigating the complex and dangerous route to Exegol required a respectively “programmed” Sith Wayfinder, of which there were only two: one was in the possession of Sidious and the second one was acquired by Vader from the Eye of the Webbish Bog on Mustafar.
Image Source: starwars.com
Activating a Wayfinder required the use of the Force, and although Qi'ra was capable of many things, she wouldn't be able to do that. As Qi'ra kidnapping either Vader or Sidious and forcing them to activate the Wayfinder for her is highly unlikely, the Knights of Ren, who could tap into the (dark-side of) Force to some extent would be her only alternative. Combining their powers would probably be enough to activate the Wayfinder.
This still leaves the problem of how Qi'ra could even get ahold of one of them!
According to Rae Carson's novelization of The Rise of Skywalker Vader had kept his Wayfinder within his castle on Mustafar, where it was found by his grandson Kylo Ren many years later. As Crimson Reign already showed the Knights of Ren break into Vader's fortress, it is unlikely that Soule would conceive such a raid again, leaving just Sidious' Wayfinder. While the second Death Star was well under construction at this time (the events of Crimson Reign took place shortly before Return of the Jedi), the Wayfinder didn't have to be there (yet). After all that Qi'ra had put in motion so far, it is not completely absurd to think that she could be brave enough to even break into Sidious' private chambers on Coruscant to get ahold of the device.
But there is another alternative for getting the map to Exegol (besides using her Imperial spies): When Vader traveled to Exegol for the first time in issues 9 and 10 of the current Darth Vader comic series, he took Ochi of Bestoon with him in an escape pod. So, it is possible that the assassin was able to record all the hyperspace jumps Vader made to get to Exegol and later gave this information to Qi'ra.
Ultimately we will have to wait until at least November to find out what her big plan to defeat the Sith is and if it involves getting to Exegol, but it would be interesting to see Qi'ra taking her fight to the nexus of Sidious's contingency play.
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