diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchPhaseExecutionException.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchPhaseExecutionException.java
index 3a4011ed44d..4a8e8c83e05 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchPhaseExecutionException.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchPhaseExecutionException.java
@@ -50,13 +50,17 @@ public class SearchPhaseExecutionException extends ElasticSearchException {
         return shardFailures;
     }
 
-    private static final String buildMessage(String phaseName, String msg, ShardSearchFailure[] shardFailures) {
+    private static String buildMessage(String phaseName, String msg, ShardSearchFailure[] shardFailures) {
         StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
         sb.append("Failed to execute phase [").append(phaseName).append("], ").append(msg);
         if (shardFailures != null && shardFailures.length > 0) {
             sb.append("; shardFailures ");
             for (ShardSearchFailure shardFailure : shardFailures) {
-                sb.append("{").append(shardFailure.shard()).append(": ").append(shardFailure.reason()).append("}");
+                if (shardFailure.shard() != null) {
+                    sb.append("{").append(shardFailure.shard()).append(": ").append(shardFailure.reason()).append("}");
+                } else {
+                    sb.append("{").append(shardFailure.reason()).append("}");
+                }
             }
         }
         return sb.toString();
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchShardTarget.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchShardTarget.java
index cbcd017e7b2..cb204ad01a1 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchShardTarget.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchShardTarget.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.Streamable;
 
+import javax.annotation.Nullable;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.Serializable;
 
@@ -49,11 +50,11 @@ public class SearchShardTarget implements Streamable, Serializable {
         this.shardId = shardId;
     }
 
-    public String nodeId() {
+    @Nullable public String nodeId() {
         return nodeId;
     }
 
-    public String getNodeId() {
+    @Nullable public String getNodeId() {
         return nodeId;
     }
 
@@ -80,13 +81,20 @@ public class SearchShardTarget implements Streamable, Serializable {
     }
 
     @Override public void readFrom(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
-        nodeId = in.readUTF();
+        if (in.readBoolean()) {
+            nodeId = in.readUTF();
+        }
         index = in.readUTF();
         shardId = in.readVInt();
     }
 
     @Override public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
-        out.writeUTF(nodeId);
+        if (nodeId == null) {
+            out.writeBoolean(false);
+        } else {
+            out.writeBoolean(true);
+            out.writeUTF(nodeId);
+        }
         out.writeUTF(index);
         out.writeVInt(shardId);
     }
@@ -112,6 +120,9 @@ public class SearchShardTarget implements Streamable, Serializable {
     }
 
     @Override public String toString() {
+        if (nodeId == null) {
+            return "[_na_][" + index + "][" + shardId + "]";
+        }
         return "[" + nodeId + "][" + index + "][" + shardId + "]";
     }
 }