Moving Data Through SQL Server with DTS Packages or Linked Servers

We are using SQL Server 2000 and must move data across servers to store it in a central database. We would rather not use DTS packages because we will soon be moving to SQL Server 2005 and we do not want to upgrade to SSIS or support legacy DTS packages.

Can I use OSQL scripts, vbscript, or other command line tools?

DTS packages will work, but I'm a little hesitant. They are quickly ugly. This task should combine data from 200 tables across 18 databases on three different servers. I don't want to drag and drop hundreds of data conversion tasks into the DTS package GUI. I would prefer that everything be explicitly specified in a batch file or set of scripts.