Han Solo + Opportunist + Engine Upgrade + Kyle Katarn + Nien Nunb

vs.

Rear Admiral Chiraneau + Push the Limit + Engine Upgrade + Darth Vader + Rebel Captive + Ysanne Isard

Opportunist:

When attacking, if the defender does not have any focus or evade tokens, you may receive 1 stress token to roll 1 additional attack die.

You cannot use this ability if you have any stress tokens.

Rebel Captive:

Once per round, the first ship that declares you as the target of an attack immediately receives 1 stress token.

We had this situation come up during one of our matches this weekend and as the TO I had made a ruling based on the card text. I had not realized there was nothing in the FAQ that specifically covers this. Since the timing rules are vague at best I thought I would ask what everyone thinks.

During the activation phase Rear Admiral Chiraneau took a Target Lock as an action and Han Solo took the Focus action. Since Han is at Pilot Skill 9 and Chiraneau P.S. 8 Han gets to shoot first. When Han chooses the Admiral as the Target, Rebel Captive activates. This will give Han a stress, here is where the timing of things gets fuzzy. Rebel Captive says "immediately receives 1 stress token" the only timing word found on either card. Opportunist allows you to receive a stress for the extra attack dice but not if stressed. The opportunity is there for Han to use this upgrade since Rear Admiral Chiraneau does not have a Focus or Evade token. I made the ruling that since Han was the first to shoot at Chiraneau he would receive the stress before having the ability to activate Opportunist. This stress would stop Opportunist from activating.

How would you rule on this one?

a) When Han declares the target of his attack, he then checks to see if the requirement is met for Opportunist, receives the stress from Opportunist and then Rebel Captive gives a second Stress.

b) When Han declares the target of his attack, Rebel Captive gives a stress and then Opportunist can't be activated since Han has a stress.

The timing rules here are actually really clear. Step 1 of the combat phase is Declare Target; because Rebel Captive goes off when a ship declares you as the target of an attack, it happens here. Roll Attack Dice is Step 2; because Opportunist affects the number of dice you roll, it happens here.

So it's your Scenario B, and you ruled correctly.

To elaborate a bit on Vorpal's point, abilities which modify the number of dice are explicitly in Step 2. It's an often-missed timing element.

So as he says, you had it right.