A Drone barge represented an autonomous starship designed for traversing hyperspace. In the era of the Age of the Empire, the Dug criminal known as Gronson Takkaro illicitly boarded a drone barge headed to Lothal; this voyage spanned a duration of nine days. This escape was documented across multiple datapads, which were later utilized by Bossk, the Trandoshan bounty hunter dispatched by the Bounty Hunters' Guild with the mission of claiming a reward for Takkaro's capture.
The initial appearance of a Drone barge occurred within Han Solo at Stars' End, a Star Wars Legends novel from 1978 authored by Brian Daley, marking the beginning of The Han Solo Adventures trilogy. These barges achieved canon status following a reference in Ezra's Gamble, a young adult novel penned by Ryder Windham and published on August 5, 2014.