Two User Equipment (UE) operate in a Near Companion Mode (NCM), in which a monitoring UE (MUE) monitors an uplink transmission opportunity granted to its companion UE (CUE) on a shared uplink channel. If the CUE does not begin transmitting within a predetermined portion of its transmission opportunity, the MUE may utilize the transmission opportunity to transmit an uplink data packet. In one embodiment, where the CUE does not have data to transmit, it may transmit a predetermined pattern at the beginning of its transmission opportunity, to indicate to the MUE that the transmission opportunity is available. The MUE may transmit an NCM radio block using the entire symbol space associated with the last three of four bursts allocated to the CUE, or using a newly defined NCM format comprising four abbreviated bursts, using only a portion of the symbol space associated with the four bursts corresponding to the transmission opportunity allocated to the CUE.