Khan was the last captain of the Islamabad, one of five Flotilla ships launched from Mercury in 2083.
One year after attending a meeting of captains where an agreement was reached not to implement certain engine modifications supposedly recommended by supporters from the Solar System, his ship was destroyed in an antimatter explosion. It was widely assumed -- even taken as a self-evident fact -- that he had attempted to surreptitiously make the prohibited engine modification. However, years later, Sky Haussmann privately theorized the an individual like the saboteur who was placed aboard the Santiago could have been the real cause.