Round of 16  - Smackdown: The Second Coming  by Ooorah
(Prompt: alternate history feat. Sitting Bull, approx. 1,700 words)

July 1910 – Downtown Honolulu, Kingdom of Hawaii

Blessing Chiedozie wandered through Kamehameha Square. As a Prime Tempus-Keeper, she had been to this city in many different iterations (or "timelines" in the vernacular). This one was nothing like she had ever seen before.

The Great Exposition marked one hundred years since the Kingdom of Hawaii was unified. The air was a heady mix of barbecue smoke and ocean breeze. The joyous chords of a freedom ballad tinkled from a nearby ukulele. Artisans peddled their hand-crafted wares, their goods protected from the Pacific heat by tipi-like structures. Near the edge of the plaza, a group of Puerto Rican migrant laborers haggled with would-be employers, ready to embark on new lives, away from the hurricanes and unrest.

Chiedozie marveled at the Free Peoples' Hall. The elegant facade had petite colonnades and wide verandas. Once she was done gawking, she finally noticed the rendezvous point. A massive Lakota star quilt hung like a banner above the main entrance, seemingly incongruous amid the Tropical Renaissance architecture. Just below it was her wayward agent, Meme Ramirez.

Chiedozie didn't mince words. "You've been living in a rogue timeline for over six months," she said. "Surely you must know how many Council by-laws you're violating."

"Hey, don't get your bloomers in a twist, Commander," he said. "The universe is still here, isn't it? As far as I'm concerned, that means I'm getting my job done."

"I demand to know the meaning of this!" she insisted. "The robes at the Chronorium might overlook a stunt like this, but damned if I'm about to let one of my Keepers..."

"Relax, will you! I've been monitoring the readings," he said. "Quantum state is meta-stable. Eigenstasis levels are normal. This reality is in temporal equilibrium for at least another decade or so."

"Well, I suppose you must have a reason for loitering in this iteration for so long," she said.

"Come this way and I'll show you," said Ramirez. He led Chiedozie past the foyer, into the heart of the Free Peoples' Hall.

Crowds looked on in rapt awe at the moving images projected on the walls. The Kingdom had commissioned the Lumiere Brothers to create these animated tableaux, memorializing the events of the last two decades.

December 1890 – Standing Rock Agency, North Dakota

The mysterious stranger requested an audience with Sitting Bull at his house on the reservation. He introduced himself as Builds Many Paths, claiming to be an informant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The holy man recognized this as a lie. Regardless, his gut instincts led him to otherwise trust this outsider. He agreed to meet – but only under the watchful eyes of armed Hunkpapa warriors. That was how Builds Many Paths came to warn Sitting Bull about his doom.

He advised the clan that the Indian Agent's troops would come the next day; to arrest Sitting Bull for his involvement in the brewing Ghost Dancer uprising. Any resistance would mean death for their leader. It would then start a chain of events, ending in the massacre of hundreds of Lakota women and children at Wounded Knee Creek, mere weeks later.

If the Hunkpapa's sacrifice could save the greater Lakota tribe, then so it would come to be. Sitting Bull ordered his band to stand down and surrender to the U.S. Government once more.

January 1891 – Port of San Francisco, California

After several weeks in detention at Fort Yates, Sitting Bull's group – some 193 Hunkpapa – were sent by rail to the Embarcadero and escorted to a private ferry. They were exiled to the Kingdom of Hawaii as political prisoners.

March 1891 – Honolulu, Kingdom of Hawaii

The able-bodied braves among them were conscripted into The Honolulu Rifles, the de facto private militia of the Hawaiian League. The League had been plotting to overthrow the beleaguered Hawaiian monarchy, annexing the islands in the interest of Euro-American sugar business.

The Hunkpapa were dubbed "Red Company", under the command of veteran soldier-of-fortune "Buckeye" McAddams. Their mission was to stop native hostiles from restoring full royal power under newly crowned Queen Liliʻuokalani.

April 1891

With the covert guidance of Sitting Bull, "Red Company" mutinied against the Honolulu Rifles, siding with the Hawaiian counter-insurgency. This bold move proved critical.

The Japanese and Chinese communities – on the verge of war with each other, in their respective homelands – put aside their differences to join the royal-tribal alliance, now known (in English) as the Free Peoples' Council. The plantation laborers grew restive. From the classrooms to the boardrooms, even the liberally-schooled natives began to support the royalists, building popular opposition to the influential sugar barons.

August 1891

By this point, Sitting Bull's group had become de facto guests of the royal family, encamped in guest houses along the shore in Waikiki. Once they had hunted bison and buffalo across the plains. Now they learned to live with the ocean: fishing, skin-diving, holding their breaths underwater, gathering shells and seaweed.

The tribals found much common ground with the Hawaiian natives. The Lakota sense of kinship – wotitakuye – found its counterpart in the locals' ʻohana, or extended family. The sense of mutualism or wacantognaka was mirrored in the Aloha Spirit. If the aging Sitting Bull grew too frail to return to his sacred Black Hills, perhaps his people could build a new life in this kindred land.

Shortly after the Wasuton Wi (Harvest Moon), Sitting Bull fell into a trance, just as he had done before the Battle at Greasy Grass – the conflict the pale ones called Custer's Last Stand. Like the first time, he envisioned the bodies of earless soldiers – unwilling to listen to the Free Peoples' demands – falling from the sky.

September 1891

The annexationist coup plotters felt their hand was being forced. The Honolulu Rifles garrisoned the Aliʻiōlani Hale government building, across from the royal offices at ʻIolani Palace.

They didn't expect to be so thoroughly routed by the Free Peoples' forces. The Hunkpapa braves lead the charge in fierce ground skirmishes against the white settlers' paramilitary troops. They wore the very same Ghost Dance shirts that had so unsettled the Indian Agents, back on the reservation. The haole newspapers called the battle "Little Big Horn of the Pacific".

Fearing reprisals against the Nikkei community, the Japanese commissioner sent a telegram requesting help from Emperor Meiji. In a show of gunboat diplomacy, the warships HIJMS Kongō and Naniwa sent ground troops ashore at Moana Loa. The annexationists finally backed off.

February 1892

Within a year of becoming Queen, Liliʻuokalani promulgated a new Constitution, including universal suffrage for all Hawaiian-born people, regardless of ethnicity. For his role in the restoration, Sitting Bull was voted Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The new Legislature quickly seized assets of the "Big 5" companies from the settler-run sugar cartel. Two firms – Davies and C. Brewer – were awarded to native royal allies.

Under the Japanese commission, Castle & Cook's plantations in Kohala and Haiku became Saku-shima Goshi Kaisha. The Japanese Empire was also granted use of Pearl Harbor on Pu'u Loa, to set up a planned naval station.

Enterprising Chinese tycoons took over Alexander & Baldwin's sugar operations at Puʻunene, Kahuku, and Kauaʻi island, as well as pineapple operations on Maui, under the Bountiful Harvest Trading Company.

Meanwhile, Hackfeld and Company's land was gifted to the Lakota nations, welcoming tribal people dissatisfied with the concessions of federal recognition on the mainland. Many of the Sioux chose to recognize this as the paradise foretold by the Ghost Dance movement's prophecies. At last, they had fertile land of their own, unburdened by the demands of the pale ones and their predatory notions of industry.

July 1910

The pair of Tempus-Keepers walked out from the Exposition grounds.

"I must say, this is all very impressive," said Chiedozie. "But how much longer do you plan to stick around?"

"A month, perhaps. Maybe two. Plenty of interesting stuff going on," said Ramirez. "Dr. Sun Yat-Sen just got into town to address the Chinese. I hear there's a bunch of Cuban and Filipino diplomats arriving here this week. They've all heard about the Hawaiian miracle, and they want to build the world in its image."

"Oh, fine, take a sabbatical if you must," she said. "I suppose there's nothing in the regulations about exploring doomed timelines."

"Believe me. I'm all too aware that this is like some crazy waking dream," he said, "So I'm going enjoy it while it lasts."

"Very well," she said. "But the moment quantum instability crosses the Everett threshold, I will personally hold you responsible."

"Understood, Ma'am," he said. "As soon as I jump back to 1890, this Builds Many Paths fellow is a goner."

All of a sudden, Ramirez collapsed, felled by a poison-tipped dart to his neck. Builds Many Paths must have been following them this whole time.

Chiedozie chased the limber Sioux through the Square, wary of causing even more alarm. The man was fast but she kept him in her sights. In the distance, she noticed him keel over, clutching his left ankle.

As she walked over to the injured rogue chrononaut, she was approached by a stocky but friendly looking middle-aged woman in military uniform, openly carrying a Winchester .44-40 caliber shotgun.

"Howdy, Ma'am! Aloha! The name's Little Sure Shot, Special Officer of the Royal Guard," said the woman. "But perhaps you might know me as Annie Oakley. Been tailing this here varmint at the Speaker's request. I'd be mighty obliged if you and your companion would help me escort him back to ʻIolani Barracks."

Later that afternoon, Chiedozie and Ramirez found themselves waiting in Sitting Bull's office at the Legislature. By now, the emergency nanites had repaired Ramirez' neck wound and the duo had hurriedly set their omnilingual communicators to Sioux.

Eventually, the Speaker returned from a private meeting with the time fugitive at the detention area.

"The Great Spirit has explained what you came here for," said the holy man, grimly. "There is an order to the universe, and it must be kept."

The Tempus-Keepers nodded in deference.

"These matters are greater than any of the concerns of men," continued Sitting Bull. "Do as you must. Until then, I am grateful for the opportunity to have served my peoples."