How can I build the results of a view in code then send them to the view?
Use hook_views_query_alter().

Alter the query before executing the query.
This hook should be placed in MODULENAME.views.inc and it will be auto-loaded. MODULENAME.views.inc must be in the directory specified by the 'path' key returned by MODULENAME_views_api(), or the same directory as the .module file, if 'path' is unspecified