[trek-verse]

[myheartglows]

Most of Starfleet's weaponry are supplied by a single company -- or, really, if they're honest with themselves, a single guy, so it stands to reason that when Tony Stark needs an escort, he gets an entire ship dedicated to his safe arrival on whatever planet.

So they're there at some docking station and exchanging pleasantries and conditions, and Tony Stark is behind a few bodyguards as the Captain, Jim Kirk, works out any remaining kinks or concerns with Tony's keeper, a Colonel James Rhodes. Rhodes's concerns, it turns out, are mostly warnings for Kirk's benefit, as the Colonel takes him aside with conspiratorial whispers like "You don't let him distract you," and "He's got a way about things, don't fall for it."

It's not until after the bustling of crates to be delivered (weaponry, for a demonstration) and Tony's personal belongings for the trip, men and women in grey Stark Industries uniforms coordinating with the golds and reds and blues of Starfleet officers, that the man himself, wearing a high collared suit that spoke of money and importance buttoned over his left breast, approaches the captain of the Enterprise with a smooth smile, one right out of any new hologram and pictures past and says to him, "Careful, I'm precious cargo," while offering a handshake.

Comments

[original_fine]

Jim Kirk offers his hand, but one eyebrow is slightly raised. "Every being on this ship is," he says. He doesn't mean to be rude, exactly, but Tony Stark has held them up already with his theatrics. And yes, it's his current mission to get the man and his supplies where he's going, but it's not his only mission, and frankly, almost all of them are more important to Jim than ferrying a would-be capitalist around on the Federation's flagship. You'd think he was royalty, Jim thinks wryly to himself. And, all right, the man's a genius. There's no denying that. As well as handsome, if trying to hold onto boyhood as long as possible. Jim, youngest captain in Starfleet's history, can't quite relate to that. He's had to prove himself mature enough for the post time and again.

If there are few left with any connection to regular media outlets who haven't heard of James T. Kirk, there's no one who hasn't heard of Tony Stark. This is the first time Jim's met him, but it's not the first time he's met someone important. In addition to his more physically demanding duties as captain of the Enterprise, Jim is forced into diplomatic duty more often than he'd like. Stark doesn't intimidate him. Jim's met Spock's father, after all. No, this is just another milk run, a spoiled kid playing out the sort of privilege that went out centuries ago, but crops up from time to time when merit and heritage combine to allow it.

It's narrowly possible Jim's benefited from something similar, if to a lesser degree.

"I trust you'll find your quarters to your liking. For a vessel primarily engaged in exploration, that is. I'm afraid we're not equipped as a pleasure cruiser."