diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/FetchSearchResultProtobuf.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/FetchSearchResultProtobuf.java
index 723322b3102ef..f5533a5dceac7 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/FetchSearchResultProtobuf.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/FetchSearchResultProtobuf.java
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 
 /**
- * FetchSearchResult child which implements serde operations as protobuf.
+ * FetchSearchResult which leverages protobuf for transport layer serialization.
  * @opensearch.internal
  */
 public class FetchSearchResultProtobuf extends FetchSearchResult {
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/ProtoSerDeHelpers.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/ProtoSerDeHelpers.java
index 147804a2be738..b5c7088fa9374 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/ProtoSerDeHelpers.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/ProtoSerDeHelpers.java
@@ -237,6 +237,7 @@ public static Object missingValueFromProto(MissingValueProto proto) {
             case INT_VAL:
                 if (proto.getIntVal() == 1) { return SortField.STRING_FIRST; }
                 if (proto.getIntVal() == 2) { return SortField.STRING_LAST; }
+                throw new TransportSerializationException("Unexpected sortField missingValue (INT_VAL): " + proto.getIntVal());
             case OBJ_VAL:
                 return genericObjectFromProto(proto.getObjVal());
             default:
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/SearchHitProtobuf.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/SearchHitProtobuf.java
index b3fa973a17e47..d77b450331d28 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/SearchHitProtobuf.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/SearchHitProtobuf.java
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
 import static org.opensearch.transport.protobuf.ProtoSerDeHelpers.searchShardTargetToProto;
 
 /**
- * Serialization/Deserialization implementations for SearchHit.
+ * SearchHit which leverages protobuf for transport layer serialization.
  * @opensearch.internal
  */
 public class SearchHitProtobuf extends SearchHit {
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/SearchHitsProtobuf.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/SearchHitsProtobuf.java
index ef5f7a4997de8..499c8799fa184 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/SearchHitsProtobuf.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/transport/protobuf/SearchHitsProtobuf.java
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 import static org.opensearch.transport.protobuf.SearchHitProtobuf.sortValueToProto;
 
 /**
- * SearchHits child which implements serde operations as protobuf.
+ * SearchHits which leverages protobuf for transport layer serialization.
  * @opensearch.internal
  */
 public class SearchHitsProtobuf extends SearchHits {