Cruise to cameo in Star Trek?

Tom Cruise in Star Trek' rumors have surfaced again but I can't help but feel it's someone just having a laugh at Cruise and Scientology. IGN have heard from a trusted news source that Cruise is up for the role of Captain Pike. Don't worry Trek fans, if you don't know who Pike is you can probably be forgiven. Pike was the Captain of the Enterprise before Kirk and was Spock's first commanding officer. The character appeared in a two arc story beginning from the first episode in season one. Star Trek mythology says that Spock served Pike for a decade. With the new Trek movie depicting Kirk's early days aboard the Enterprise this would seem to make sense and hell Abrams worked with Cruise on Mission Impossible III which was a great success for both guys, so who knows... this isn't beyond the realms of possibility. I still think someone is having a joke, but it could be true. Cruise has done cameo's before, most recently of course in Austin Powers: Goldmember. I would expect a cameo in Trek will be handled a little more seriously than that. IGN are also hearing that they want an A-Lister for the role of the villain. I kinda like the idea of Cruise as the former Captain and I guess in the new Trek mythology they could always bring him back later as a pissed off villain, who lost his ship to Kirk? I always say new franchises have a great chance to be conscious with their new continuity (and not just have things all over the place like Lost), so if they are smart this could turn out to be very cool in the long run.