Okay a little early to be posting questions on the latest reveal of the upcoming Wave 6.

I was wondering which ability goes first since they are essentially the opposite. Roark gives an ally (range 1-3) Pilot skill 12 while Muk makes an opposing ship (range 1-2) pilot skill 0. Is it who ever has initiative goes first?

Woops I end up answering my own question. Muk will go first as his ability states.

At the end of the activation phase choose 1 enemy ship at range 1-2. Until the end of the combat phase, treat that ship as pilot skill value 0

While Roark on the other hand

At the start of the Combat phase, choose 1 other friendly ship at range 1-3. Until the end of the phase treat that ship pilot skill value as 12

So Muk will go first making a ship PS 0 then Roark can change that into PS 12 because the start of the combat phase comes after the end of the activation phase.

Which brings me to another question. I noticed that the word "may" is NOT present in their pilot abilities. So I would assume that their ability is a mandatory action?

(example: If there are only 2 ally ships and one of them is roark then the other ship must be skill 12, likewise if there is only 1 enemy with range 1-2 of Muk then the enemy ship must be 0.)

Torkil goes off at the end of Activation, Roark goess off at the start of Combat. Roark wins.

Now, you could use Torkil to try and force Roark to use his ability on a particular ship and not on another one, but Torkil really isn't a counter to Roark due to the timing.

He might not be a direct counter, but I can see him being a pain in the rear when it comes to forcing options on the rebel player. He may have a high PS ship that doesn't need to be a 12, but Torkil could turn him into a sitting duck. It could be a bit fun seeing these two oppose each other.

Also since the abilities don't state the word "may" must they happen every time if possible? Since there is no may you can't opt out of boosting a friends skill or nerfing a nearby opponent skill, is this also right?

Looks pretty accurate to me.

Yes they ate mandatory. And good spit ob the timing. Hadn't gotten that far yet myself.

And after they errata'ed Swarm Tactics to include a "may," I would assume this is deliberately mandatory and not something that will be corrected later.