Philosophical scenario - A chance meeting

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I got this one from a short story I read; I thought it would be interesting to see what solutions people might come up with that are different from the one in the book (The situation is resolved peacefully in the book).

Your race has one solar system. You are captain of the first exporatory vessel. While investigating a nebulae, you encounter, by seeming chance, an alien vessel appearing to be of roughly equal technological capability, although you can't be sure they don't have advancements you don't - This isn't RPG tech, where everything is equal.

You proceed to make peacefull first contact. At about roughly the same time, the same problem occurs to both you and the other captain - How do both of you survive? You have only one solar system. You cannot, under any circumstances, risk it. If you leave the nebulae and return to it, the other ship may follow or track your ship somehow. They may be hostile and wipe your race out. They may fear you and wipe you out. From what the other captain said, they realize the same problem with regards to you.

On the other hand, peaceable trade would more than double your races' chance of survival - And peace would be desirable, in and of itself.

Plus, you have no certain way of telling just how well armed and armored the other ship is compared to yours.

The question is, how do you ensure the survival of your race?