Collective expansion 

The Collective feels comfortable that its military and size are large enough that it is comfortably ahead of the other two, and so continues at the standard rate

Mars

The Umbrae Populus checked nobody was watching, before opening the filing cabinet. He went through the files before he found the right one, the human two dimensional drive. Once he located the algorithm for the dimension they were cutting into. After that they would be able to intercept ships using that dimension.

Research

Not to be outdone, the Collective has began pouring resources into research for their standard drives, hoping to ensure their now threatened speed advantage is resecured and cemented
Amd perhaps not surprising given the increasing human reliance on cloning, the Collective has put a new project into effect that would turn this against them in case of war
They have also begun picking counters for the Equiis pact races

Peace Talks

"All forms of immigration and emigration denied. Tourism to and from denied. The majority of such ideals are dangerous to security" The Argutus said and turned to the human "Once she is found I will deploy of some Equitem and members of the specific Deuscidium branch to assist