diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
index 0d4bd466..40ab775c 100644
--- a/.release-please-manifest.json
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  ".": "0.128.8"
+  ".": "0.128.9-rc1"
 }
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6ae7f415..a5563bbb 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [0.128.9-rc1](https://github.com/googleapis/java-storage-nio/compare/v0.128.8...v0.128.9-rc1) (2025-12-04)
+
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* next release candidate ([e50043a](https://github.com/googleapis/java-storage-nio/commit/e50043abcd7dbeafc4f7ed5503d8a418c5b1a3be))
+
 ## [0.128.8](https://github.com/googleapis/java-storage-nio/compare/v0.128.7...v0.128.8) (2025-11-10)
 
 
diff --git a/google-cloud-nio-bom/pom.xml b/google-cloud-nio-bom/pom.xml
index aedb5efd..7044d431 100644
--- a/google-cloud-nio-bom/pom.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-nio-bom/pom.xml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
     <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
     <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
     <artifactId>google-cloud-nio-bom</artifactId>
-    <version>0.128.9-SNAPSHOT</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
+    <version>0.128.9-rc1</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
     <packaging>pom</packaging>
     <parent>
         <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@
         <dependency>
           <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
           <artifactId>google-cloud-nio</artifactId>
-          <version>0.128.9-SNAPSHOT</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
+          <version>0.128.9-rc1</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
         </dependency>
       </dependencies>
     </dependencyManagement>
diff --git a/google-cloud-nio-examples/pom.xml b/google-cloud-nio-examples/pom.xml
index dae6617d..5c80bbe5 100644
--- a/google-cloud-nio-examples/pom.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-nio-examples/pom.xml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
   <artifactId>google-cloud-nio-examples</artifactId>
-  <version>0.128.9-SNAPSHOT</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
+  <version>0.128.9-rc1</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
   <packaging>jar</packaging>
   <name>Google Cloud NIO Examples</name>
   <url>https://github.com/googleapis/java-storage-nio</url>
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
     <artifactId>google-cloud-nio-parent</artifactId>
-    <version>0.128.9-SNAPSHOT</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
+    <version>0.128.9-rc1</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
   </parent>
   <dependencies>
     <dependency>
diff --git a/google-cloud-nio-retrofit/pom.xml b/google-cloud-nio-retrofit/pom.xml
index 9eacf98e..74306dfb 100644
--- a/google-cloud-nio-retrofit/pom.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-nio-retrofit/pom.xml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
   <artifactId>google-cloud-nio-retrofit</artifactId>
-  <version>0.128.9-SNAPSHOT</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
+  <version>0.128.9-rc1</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
   <packaging>jar</packaging>
   <name>Google Cloud NIO Retrofit Example</name>
   <url>https://github.com/googleapis/java-storage-nio</url>
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
     <artifactId>google-cloud-nio-parent</artifactId>
-    <version>0.128.9-SNAPSHOT</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
+    <version>0.128.9-rc1</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
   </parent>
   <properties>
     <site.installationModule>google-cloud-nio-retrofit</site.installationModule>
diff --git a/google-cloud-nio/pom.xml b/google-cloud-nio/pom.xml
index ca08688f..b3802ba8 100644
--- a/google-cloud-nio/pom.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-nio/pom.xml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
   <artifactId>google-cloud-nio</artifactId>
-  <version>0.128.9-SNAPSHOT</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
+  <version>0.128.9-rc1</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
   <packaging>jar</packaging>
   <name>Google Cloud NIO</name>
   <url>https://github.com/googleapis/java-storage-nio</url>
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
     <artifactId>google-cloud-nio-parent</artifactId>
-    <version>0.128.9-SNAPSHOT</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
+    <version>0.128.9-rc1</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
   </parent>
   <properties>
     <site.installationModule>google-cloud-nio</site.installationModule>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 04c8fe30..44fc85e1 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
   <artifactId>google-cloud-nio-parent</artifactId>
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
-  <version>0.128.9-SNAPSHOT</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
+  <version>0.128.9-rc1</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-nio:current} -->
   <name>Storage Parent</name>
   <url>https://github.com/googleapis/java-storage-nio</url>
   <description>
diff --git a/samples/snapshot/pom.xml b/samples/snapshot/pom.xml
index 1a596d4d..2e5e853e 100644
--- a/samples/snapshot/pom.xml
+++ b/samples/snapshot/pom.xml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
       <artifactId>google-cloud-nio</artifactId>
-      <version>0.128.9-SNAPSHOT</version>
+      <version>0.128.9-rc1</version>
     </dependency>
     <!-- {x-version-update-end} -->
 
diff --git a/versions.txt b/versions.txt
index 7882d7d5..0eb3ad5c 100644
--- a/versions.txt
+++ b/versions.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 # Format:
 # module:released-version:current-version
 
-google-cloud-nio:0.128.8:0.128.9-SNAPSHOT
\ No newline at end of file
+google-cloud-nio:0.128.9-rc1:0.128.9-rc1
\ No newline at end of file