Fort Nowhere was a military installment functioning as a city and a smuggler's haven, on the forgotten planet Ruusan; as such, it was inhabited primarily by smugglers and later dissident colonists from Sulon, although most of the latter settled the badlands outside the town.
The two sides in the battle were Dark Jedi Jerec's Imperial branch—who were searching for the Valley of the Jedi situated not far from the fort—and the local settlers of Fort Nowhere.
Jerec and Sariss contemplate a hologram of Ruusan before attacking.
The Vengeance Battle Group arrived above Ruusan, disabling the weather satellites operated by the smugglers, and surveyed the unknown planet with probe droids. Sulonese Grif Grawley witnessed it and tried to warn the other colonists.
Sariss considered the settlement expendable and was ready to destroy it, but Jerec preferred to interview the settlers if they knew anything about the Valley. Imperial representatives Sariss, Boc, and Yun parlayed with Mayor Byron Devo III of Fort Nowhere. The settlers initially being very hostile, Sariss nearly Force-choked a settler named Lasko to death to "soften up" the dwellers. The Dark Jedi drained Mayor Devo, Marie Peeno, and the tapcafe's owner for relevant information and promised to leave Fort Nowhere alone despite the fact that, according to Imperial law, virtually everything about Fort Nowhere was illegal.
Confident that the settlers knew nothing about the Valley, and therefore were useless, the Seven Dark Jedi proceeded with the town's destruction, despite Devo's cooperation and Sariss's promises. They chose an enclosed valley for a staging area, where, for more than twenty-six hours, they set up a temporary maintenance facility where they buried fuel bladders. Its perimeter was patrolled by a pair of AT-STs and heavily armed troopers. The best of the Vengeance Battle Group were chosen to man the TIEs and the shuttles, focusing on speed and surprise.
Meanwhile the settlers made use of what they had; volunteers with electrobinoculars acted as the target-acquisition system, and Peeno directed the defenses from an underground bunker, with a teenager acting as weapons-control officer.
The Imperial assault was primarily ground-based; the Imperial forces consisted of six TIE/LN starfighters and four assault shuttles worth of stormtrooper platoons (that is, four times forty stormtroopers in all), staged twenty-six hours prior to the battle on the nearby flats.
The TIE Fighters commenced the attack, destroying large portions of the Fort's defenses—including the southern gate, large portions of the walls and a storage shed—with laser fire. One of the TIEs was shot down by settler Dinko who manned one of the blaster cannon turrets. Four gunboats were on their way. The Alpha Wave of TIEs managed to destroy two of the defensive turrents and tried to evade the heave fire from the other four. Missiles destroyed half of the Beta Wave before it could launch.
The assault shuttles followed, and a flight of six surface-to-air missiles was launched against them, which however were neutralized by chaff; one of them managed to down Imperial assault shuttle number three. The shuttles then locked on the Fort's missile silos.
Three of the turrets had been destroyed by the time the remaining three shuttles arrived to the settlement. One TIE flew low to mow some fugitives who attempted to flee to the caves. The shuttles landed amidst the chaos, and soon the smugglers and settlers were overrun by stormtroopers. Squad Two secured the main road while Squad Three secured the power station.
The Fort Nowhere forces were no match for the Imperials and the battle lasted only fifteen minutes to subdue the fort itself. The three Dark Jedi participated actively in the battle. Sariss personally beheaded Mayor Devo during the battle, while Boc amused himself by finishing off wounded smugglers and settlers. Yun was ordered to destroy the fort's subsurface farms. It took another twenty minutes to clear out its underground system of caves and tunnels.
Moldy Crow flies over the ruins of Fort Nowhere.
Fort Nowhere was completely razed and most of its inhabitants were killed; only very few managed to escape, most of whom were later hunted down by trainee stormtroopers. Apart from the downed TIE Fighter and assault shuttle, Imperial losses were minimal.
Some survivors retreated to the badlands, and reached Grif Grawley's place; as they acknowledged theri mistake not believing Grif's warning, and since most of them didn't know the parts outside the Fort, they saught his help. He agreed to help them, and led them to the ruins of a Jedi temple fifty-six kilometers south of the settlement; Grif Grawley transmitted a message in a Primitive binary code in a loop pointing to their location, possibly in an attempt to attract more survivors.
Some days after the battle, when the Imperials had proceeded to the Valley of the Jedi, Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors arrived at what was once Fort Nowhere in the Moldy Crow. Shocked with the devastation, the Rebel agents searched in vain for survivors among the ruins. Following Grif's signal, they reached the temple and joined the survivors, who helped them find the Valley of the Jedi.
The narrative of Dark Forces: Jedi Knight mentions "TIE fighters", six of them, participating in the battle. However the accompanying illustration (see main image) by William C. Dietz shows six TIE bombers flying above.
The audio drama suggests a larger imperial force of "couple of dozens" TIEs, as well as hovercraft and gunboats. In the novella Marie Peeno is in a bunker while Dinko is manning a cannon turret, whereas in the audio drama they are together, and die together while Peeno is arming some missiles.