As I understand it, doing research is mandatory. You will NEVER be able to defeat Terron or Keller just by firing guns at them. They do incredible damage per volley, have huge droids, and nobody will help you fight them.
I'm pretty sure that research progress is global, its just that by the time you visit another station they've already used up all the material you gave them for research. You can test this if you like; im not sure about this.
By the way, I'm pretty sure that 450 hull isn't enough to take on a whole fleet of dominators. The best stats are 800+ hull, 50%+ shield, 60+ droid, 15+ cladding and full Atomic Vision/Turbogravir guns - this setup will ensure that you really do rule the ... erm... sky.
Hint: If you have Reboot, you can get the unique ships from the Military, Science and Pirate bases. The best ship in the game, IMO, is the pirate unique ship - 1100 ideal hull, +150 speed, gives bonuses to energy, splinter and missile weapons (+15, +30, +20 respectively). The requirements are: a)
Pirate title,
Ace ranking, eliminate 100 transport and diplomatic ships. o.O It's hard.