A method begins by receiving a request to retrieve a data segment stored as encoded data slices in a distributed storage network (DSN). The method continues by determining whether at least the threshold number of encoded data slices is cached in temporary storage associated with a distributed storage processing module. When the at least the threshold number of encoded data slices are cached in the temporary storage, the method continues by retrieving the at least the threshold number of encoded data slices from the temporary storage. When the at least the threshold number of encoded data slices is not cached in the temporary storage, the method continues by retrieving one or more of the encoded data slices from the DSN to obtain the at least the threshold number of encoded data slices.