Baltar appears before the Quorum of Twelve and is sentenced to life in confinement. He argues and resists, but is powerless against the psychic powers exhibited by Iblis. Iblis addresses the council and discusses his intention to join the celebrations of Baltar's capture across the fleet. It is proposed that the Quorum elect Count Iblis president, but Adama voices his concerns in order to delay the vote.
Iblis visits Baltar in his cell, Baltar recognizes his voice, the voice of the Cylon Imperious Leader. Baltar quickly horrified upon the realization that for Iblis' voice to been imprinted upon the Cylons. The Count would have to be a thousand yahrens old.
Later Iblis encourages drinking and partying throughout the fleet after he manipulates Boomer into defeating Apollo and Starbuck in a Triad game. Meanwhile, the light orbs swarm around the ship, and none of the pilots are in any condition to respond to the red alert. After the Count scolds the warriors he makes veiled threat to take away Adama's command. Adama questions Iblis' fear of the lights, while Iblis counters that he is not afraid of any human nor creature, and that the gods' laws do not apply to him.
Apollo, Starbuck, and Boomer chase the lights in their Vipers, but the deafening ship catches them and takes Boomer. Adama and Apollo are concerned about Iblis' certain ascendancy to the presidency. Then, Adama proves to Apollo that humans can have similar mental abilities that Iblis had demonstrated earlier. Adama believes Iblis and the other beings are so advanced that they may have been termed angels by earlier humans.
Apollo and Starbuck return to the planet to examine the wreckage of the ship. Iblis senses Adama's thoughts and threatens Apollo's life. Sheba heads out after Apollo and Starbuck by herself, and arrives just as Apollo and Starbuck stumble upon something horrifying in the wreckage. Iblis appears before them and commands Sheba to come to him. When Apollo fires at Iblis, the laser passes right through him, Iblis then strikes Apollo dead with a bolt of energy. In a fit of rage, Starbuck fires at Iblis, whose true form is revealed as a dark and foreboding creature. Suddenly, the strange lights zoom overhead. Starbuck notices Iblis' fear while Iblis simply tells him that they will meet again before dematerializing before Starbucks eyes. Starbuck and Sheba mournfully take Apollo's body and head back to the Galactica.
While returning, Starbuck and Sheba are overtaken by the ship of lights, appearing inside the ship dressed all in white. Angelic beings greet Starbuck and lead him and Sheba to Apollo's body. They indicate that Apollo was not meant to die and is of great importance. They tell the pair that Iblis had broken their laws by killing someone who was not a willingly follower. They then bring Apollo back and tell Starbuck that they are on the same side of the struggle against evil. When asked if they could tell them the way to earth, the beings offer to give them a guide.
The warriors are all returned to the fleet. Adama has a celebratory dinner where Apollo, Starbuck, and Sheba seem to have little recollection of what happened to them, except for a sense of light and goodness. A post hypnotic suggestion causes the three warriors spontaneously recite the navigational coordinates.
Tropes:
- Big "NO!": When Sheba reaches the wreckage and Starbuck moves aside to show her what he and Apollo found. Iblis appears on the cliff overlooking them and shouts "NO! I forbid it!", complete with thunderclaps heard behind him.
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu/Heroic Sacrifice/Taking the Blast: Apollo tries to shield Sheba from Iblis, only to be killed in her place.
- Divine Date: Iblis spends lots of his time aboard the Galactica and on the other ships in the fleet alone with Sheba.
- God Guise: Despite his earlier claims, Iblis amounts to nothing more than a Sufficiently Advanced Alien playing himself as a supremely powerful being.
- God's Hands Are Tied: When Starbuck, Apollo, and Sheba learn the truth about Iblis from the Seraphs (He is a Fallen Angel), their most obvious question is why the Seraphs aren't doing much to stop him. Their interventions seem more passive than anything else. Their answer: "We cannot interfere with the freedom of choice. Yours, his...anybody's."
- I Know Your True Name: Or rather, Apollo has guessed at the true identity of Count Iblis and makes references to the names by which he has been known througout the ages: Diabolis, Mephistopholes, The Deceiver, The Prince of Darkness and Lies. In real life, Iblis is the Islamic name for Satan.
- I Shall Taunt You: Starbuck does this to Count Iblis when the lights appear and he observes Iblis' fear.
- It Is Not Your Time: After Apollo is killed by Count Iblis, his body is taken aboard the Ship of Lights where he is revived by the "angels", who then go on to say that he was not meant to die and that Iblis had broken their laws by killing him.
- Kneel Before Zod: Iblis orders Baltar to do this. The latter initially refuses and is then forced by Iblis to kneel.
- Love Makes You Dumb: Apollo and Sheba both fall into this trap to differing degrees. Sheba is completely taken in by Iblis, while Apollo just barely manages to keep his temper in check.
- Manly Tears: Starbuck weeps when he takes in that fact the Apollo has been murdered right in front of him.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Sheba says this as she sobs over Apollo's corpse.
- No-Sell: Apollo and Starbuck shoot Iblis with their pistols; the only effect it has on Iblis is to reveal his demonic form.
- Nothing Is Scarier: What Apollo and Starbuck see in the wreckage of the ship isn't seen, but it's something that confirms what sort of being Iblis is.
- Oh, Crap!: Iblis when the lights begin appearing after he kills Apollo.
- Adama when he realizes where Iblis is headed-down to the planet where Apollo, Starbuck and Sheba found Iblis.
- Power Echoes: When forbidding Sheba from looking at the crashed ship, Iblis' voice echoes for a moment to get everyone's attention.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Death to her, Apollo. May her soul curse you through eternity."
- Properly Paranoid: It's revealed that Apollo was right to be distrustful towards Iblis - the latter's actually a demonic being intent on putting the fleet under his evil thrall.
- Psychic Powers: Adama attributes many of Iblis "miracles" to this, Adama himself can bend a spoon or two and move small items across a table if he concentrates hard enough.
- Really 700 Years Old: Iblis is so old his voice was used for the Cylon Imperious Leader. Of course this is also an Actor Allusion as Patrick Macnee does both roles.
- Slasher Smile: Iblis gives one after striking down Apollo and Starbuck tries shooting him. His demonic form has one as its default expression.
- Sufficiently Advanced Aliens: The spheres of light, who put everything right, including a dead Apollo once Iblis is gone.
- The Unreveal: What was inside the wreckage of the spacecraft that Iblis didn't want Sheba to see? One popular fan theory (based on the comment that whatever crashed there was "the size of a battlestar") is that it was the Pegasus commanded by Sheba's father. In the original script, it's the remains of a cloven-footed creature.
- We Will Meet Again: Iblis before he does his Villain: Exit, Stage Left.
- Where It All Began: Apollo and Starbuck go to confront Iblis on the same planet where they first found him.
