Zukan was the president of Betafarl, who travelled to Xenon to attend Avon's anti-Federation conference. He was met with distrust by the other planetary leaders, especially Boorva and Chalsa, since he had long harboured territorial ambitions against them. He allied their fears somewhat by revealing he had brought equipment with him to manufacture the anti-toxin for pylene-50. He stated he had only acted to defend his own territory and the Federation were the true aggressors. The other members of the alliance accepted him.
Zukan announced he was staying on Xenon Base to oversee the fitting of the equipment, requesting Scorpio travelled to Betafarl to collect the raw materials. He and his aide Finn then placed explosives and a device set to emit a radioactive airborne virus throughout the silo when the equipment was being installed. Finn informed Zukan that his daughter Zeeona had stowed away on the Lodestar and was on Xenon with them. On learning she was romantically involved with Tarrant and intended to return to Betafarl with him aboard Scorpio, Zukan asked Avon to captain the vessel instead.
Zukan informed Dayna that he was returning to Betafarl. Instead, he and Finn rendezvoused with Servalan, who chided Zukan for not telling her the location of Xenon Base. She had promised him the territory of the other rulers in exchange for his disposing of the Scorpio crew and realised he had gone to the base to get information on the anti-toxin. Together, they monitored the capture of Avon by Federation troopers on Betafarl and heard there was a woman with him claiming to be Zeeona (in fact, Soolin). Servalan then left the ship.
Zukan regretted the deaths of the eleven Betafarlian technicians killed by the virus, telling Finn he was haunted by dreams of his victims. Finn noted an explosive Servalan had planted in the airlock. Zukan told him to remove it, then ejected both Finn and the explosive into space, but the ship was damaged in the process. Overhearing communications between Avon on Scorpio and the personnel on Xenon Base, who were trapped with a limited air supply, he offered to tell them how to get virus-free air if Avon rescued him. Avon quickly discovered the crew would be dead by the time he reached Zukan and offered to rescue him if he told them first, but Zukan refused to trust him, instead suggesting two of the crew die so the air would sustain the others. Zeeona contacted him to say she was on Xenon but Zukan, having heard the report of her on Betafarl, refused to believe her. Avon worked out which ventilators were safe without Zukan's help and Zukan was killed when his ship exploded.