No need to tape. Do NOT soak the bricks. But do keep a bucket of clean water with a drywall sponge in it. Keep your fingers clean, and clean off any of that polymer mortar quickly. That stuff isn’t coming off once it sets. Keeping them level will be tricky, maybe get some tile spacers and lay them like virtical tile. Just use a normal type N for the joints. You don’t need mesh, but it wouldn’t hurt. Check out Speedy Mason instead of mesh. That will help immensely. https://www.speedymason.com/products/brick-lath It’s a vinyl product that actually has little ledges for the brick to sit on.