diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/internal/InternalSearchHitTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/internal/InternalSearchHitTests.java
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+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/internal/InternalSearchHitTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.elasticsearch.search.internal;
+
+import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.BytesStreamOutput;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.InputStreamStreamInput;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.text.StringText;
+import org.elasticsearch.search.SearchShardTarget;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
+
+import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.nullValue;
+
+public class InternalSearchHitTests extends ESTestCase {
+
+    public void testSerializeShardTarget() throws Exception {
+        SearchShardTarget target = new SearchShardTarget("_node_id", "_index", 0);
+
+        Map<String, InternalSearchHits> innerHits = new HashMap<>();
+        InternalSearchHit innerHit1 = new InternalSearchHit(0, "_id", new StringText("_type"), null);
+        innerHit1.shardTarget(target);
+        InternalSearchHit innerInnerHit2 = new InternalSearchHit(0, "_id", new StringText("_type"), null);
+        innerInnerHit2.shardTarget(target);
+        innerHits.put("1", new InternalSearchHits(new InternalSearchHit[]{innerInnerHit2}, 1, 1f));
+        innerHit1.setInnerHits(innerHits);
+        InternalSearchHit innerHit2 = new InternalSearchHit(0, "_id", new StringText("_type"), null);
+        innerHit2.shardTarget(target);
+        InternalSearchHit innerHit3 = new InternalSearchHit(0, "_id", new StringText("_type"), null);
+        innerHit3.shardTarget(target);
+
+        innerHits = new HashMap<>();
+        InternalSearchHit hit1 = new InternalSearchHit(0, "_id", new StringText("_type"), null);
+        innerHits.put("1", new InternalSearchHits(new InternalSearchHit[]{innerHit1, innerHit2}, 1, 1f));
+        innerHits.put("2", new InternalSearchHits(new InternalSearchHit[]{innerHit3}, 1, 1f));
+        hit1.shardTarget(target);
+        hit1.setInnerHits(innerHits);
+
+        InternalSearchHit hit2 = new InternalSearchHit(0, "_id", new StringText("_type"), null);
+        hit2.shardTarget(target);
+
+        InternalSearchHits hits = new InternalSearchHits(new InternalSearchHit[]{hit1, hit2}, 2, 1f);
+
+        InternalSearchHits.StreamContext context = new InternalSearchHits.StreamContext();
+        context.streamShardTarget(InternalSearchHits.StreamContext.ShardTargetType.STREAM);
+        BytesStreamOutput output = new BytesStreamOutput();
+        hits.writeTo(output, context);
+        InputStream input = new ByteArrayInputStream(output.bytes().toBytes());
+        context = new InternalSearchHits.StreamContext();
+        context.streamShardTarget(InternalSearchHits.StreamContext.ShardTargetType.STREAM);
+        InternalSearchHits results = InternalSearchHits.readSearchHits(new InputStreamStreamInput(input), context);
+        assertThat(results.getAt(0).shard(), equalTo(target));
+        assertThat(results.getAt(0).getInnerHits().get("1").getAt(0).shard(), nullValue());
+        assertThat(results.getAt(0).getInnerHits().get("1").getAt(0).getInnerHits().get("1").getAt(0).shard(), nullValue());
+        assertThat(results.getAt(0).getInnerHits().get("1").getAt(1).shard(), nullValue());
+        assertThat(results.getAt(0).getInnerHits().get("2").getAt(0).shard(), nullValue());
+        assertThat(results.getAt(1).shard(), equalTo(target));
+    }
+
+}