The Varro ship began its life as a fleet of smaller vessels on a long term mission through the galaxy. Over time the ships joined themselves together in order to pool their resources, becoming a single multi-generational ship which has now existed for some 400 years.

Voyager encountered the Varro ship in 2375. The ship had lost its ability to travel at warp speed some time before, and Voyager agreed to help them to repair their systems in the hope that the Varro would share knowledge with them. The Varro leaders agreed somewhat reluctantly; their history included many encounters with unfriendly species and they had become very distrustful of outsiders over the last few centuries.

The Varro technology is in advance of the Federations in many respects. Their environment systems produces no waste whatsoever, and they have developed their technology to the point where any environment can be recreated in individual crew quarters. However, the Federation still has some advantages. The Varro have never developed transporter technology, and their reluctance to explore has led to some stagnation.

While Voyager was assisting the Varro ship, a dissident movement was discovered on board. This movement thought that the leaders Xenophobia was misguided, and was determined to force the ship to split up into its independent segments again. They used silicon parasites to attack the ships superstructure and despite Voyagers efforts the Varro ship did indeed break up. The majority of the segments decided to remain together, but others left in order to pursue their own agendas.